


Sock It To Em

by scorpiusalone



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24895387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiusalone/pseuds/scorpiusalone
Summary: Working in retail can suck, especially when you work with your rival.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran, June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran/Percy "Pez" Okonjo
Comments: 62
Kudos: 88





	1. Chapter 1

“I hate him.”

Nora looked up from the iced coffee in her hand, taking a long sip before sighing. “And what did he do this time?”

The he Alex was referring to, was none other than his stupid, tightass manager, Henry Fox. The only topic that ever left Alex’s lips, other than what kind of coffee he was going to choose that day.

And so Nora was frustrated with him, and she had every right to be. Maybe Alex did spend the majority of his time discussing how Henry pulled apart his every move. How he constantly was breathing down Alex’s neck, telling him that his customer service voice was pitched wrong. 

Alex took a breath, going through his mental list. 

Henry was a douche bag.  
Alex was not caffeinated enough for his bullshit.

“I don’t think it’s even anything specific anymore. He just grinds my gears.”

“He grinds your gears? You sound like your mother.”

Another sigh from Alex. “He pisses me off, okay! His sister never gives me any of the same shit. She brings me candy when the shifts are slow, but Henry? He always has a goddamn stick up his ass. And the only time he has half a personality is when another person enters the store.”

Nora took one final look at her coffee cup before standing and tossing the cup in the bin. Ever since Ellen had given Alex shifts at Sock It To Em, he had made sure to coordinate his breaks with Nora. No matter what kind of hell shift they were working, they always made sure to meet up. Their spot was a staff hallway, just outside of the main entrance. It was dark, and not that exciting. But it was away from the hustle and bustle. And most importantly: Henry didn’t know it existed.

“Ellen Claremont wouldn’t hire someone without a personality. Your Mom is too passionate to let someone boring slip through. She runs a novelty sock business. You cannot work in a store with a cheesy pun in the title and just… not be fun. There has to be a reason that he’s there.”

“Maybe Mom just liked the idea of having siblings as managers? I don’t get it though. There’s no way they can be related. Besides the hair, they just don’t even seem like they could be from the same planet.”

He checked his phone as it beeped. A text from the demon himself.

*Alexander,  
Your break finished three minutes ago.  
I would love to see you back on the floor restocking the shelves, if that’s not too much to ask.  
Please do invest in a watch.  
Regards,  
Henry Fox.*

Alex shook his head as he looked to Nora, letting out a short huff. “I can’t wait for the day he gets fired.”

Nora just laughed. “There is no way that he is getting fired. He’s too perfect for that. I’ll see you later,” She said, pushing him playfully. “Have fun with your best friend!”

“He is not my be-” Alex shut his mouth. Nora was gone. What was the point in making a statement no one else would hear?

With one final sigh, Alex headed back to finish off his five hour shift. Henry was pacing behind the counter when he walked back in, his head snapping straight to Alex the moment his shadow hit the ground. 

“Seven minutes over! Alexander, you are so incredibly irresponsible! Did you not see my message? Do you even read my post shift notes? Bea tells me that she never has a single problem with you, did I do something? Could you please just follow instructions for once?” Henry rambled, his facial expression changing as he focused on the figure behind Alex. “Good afternoon! Welcome to Sock It To Em! What can we do for you m’am?”

And just like that, Henry was using his long legs to stride past Alex and straight to the customer’s side. He hated that. It made him uncomfortable how Henry went from the world’s biggest dickhead to the mall’s greatest suck up. He was too good at his job sometimes.

Customers fawned over Henry constantly, and frankly it made Alex mad. It didn’t matter if it was a middle aged bitch, a group of young girls, even guys. They heard his stupid accent and suddenly it was head over heels! Henry could probably sell a drought to a farmer. He’s a demon in the body of a twenty something year old white boy. 

“Alexander will be more than happy to ring you up. And I do hope that your fourth cousin enjoys those socks. I hope they suit the occasion as you have expected!” Henry stated as he walked the customer over to the counter, looking at Alex expectedly. He had that look in his eyes, curiosity? Hatred? Disgust? He had never been able to decipher it, but he knew he hated that look.

Alex, who had still not moved from the door, put on a fake smile and let his shoulders tense as he placed himself behind the counter. He made sure to take his sweet time before he strategically moved his arm to block Henry’s view of the screen, smirking as he finished the transaction. “Now you have yourself an absolutely sock-tastic day, m’am.”

He could feel Henry’s eyes shooting daggers into his back.

The customer took their items and left, and Alex turned back to Henry, the smirk still plastered on his face. “See? Customer service is possible without a stupid accent.”

“I- you- clock out,” Henry said, crossing his arms and staring Alex down. “And if I hear you tell a customer to have a socktastic day, or call my accent stupid, I will be informing your mother. Stop trying to fly so close to the sun. Your actions have consequences, Alexander.”

“Damn. I was so looking forward to spending the rest of my afternoon with you,” Alex said sarcastically, grabbing his bag before clocking out and stopping at the entrance of the store. 

He turned back to face Henry. He knew every single one of his actions would piss him off, but he wanted to do something that Henry would think about for days. Beside him, a stand of perfectly placed socks sat.

“You know, I wouldn’t want you to be bored the rest of your shift.” With one small nudge, he had tipped over one of the displays. 

Yes, he knew Henry spent hours on it.

No, he didn’t care.

Henry’s jaw clenched further, and his mouth pinched in that one stupid spot that it always did. This made Alex smile more.

“Alexander-”

“Don’t forget! Socktastic day!” He exclaimed, grinning as he continued out into the walkway of the mall. 

It was just past three. Nora’s shift finished at seven, so there was no point waiting around for her. Henry finished his shift at five, and if Alex was still in the mall at that point, he was more than certain he would get murdered.

His friend from the Java Lounge finished at two, so he wouldn’t be seeing her today either. He couldn’t go home just yet either. If his Mom was home, she would be with Zahra, and Alex wasn’t exactly Zahra’s favourite person. So that left him with one option.

June worked at the Flamingo Lounge outside the centre. A boba cafe owned by Percy Okonjo, Henry’s best friend. Possibly Henry’s only friend? He decided he would research that later.

Their mom had offered both Alex and June employment at the family business. She had stated it would be an incredible experience for them both, and not just an easy job. She promised to treat them as employees and teach them what they would need to know to move further into the retail industry. June, however, didn’t want to accept the handout. So she set to work finding her own job.

However, being a college student with no prior experience besides an overly wordy cover letter really didn’t sit with a lot of employers. It was only when Henry suggested to June to try the boba shack that she finally had success.

Alex had to admit, the Flamingo Lounge was incredible. It was done up entirely in pink and it honestly looked like Instagram had thrown up on a building. June had been there three months now, and she absolutely adored it. Frankly, he just adored the fact that he could get free boba whenever he wished.

As he neared the shack, he was honestly kind of frustrated to see the famous “Pez” out the front of the shack, leaning against the counter as he took a phone call. It wasn’t that he disliked Pez, he was just… overwhelming sometimes. Of course, he was also friends with Henry, so that was automatically a no in Alex’s books. 

“I understand you dislike his actions, but yelling about it isn’t going to do anything to help. You need to sit down and talk through it, like a good manager! I…just get him back in and go home! H, calm down. Breathe, it’s all going to be… oh speak of the devil! My other favourite Claremont-Diaz!” 

Pez placed the phone down and grinned. His hair has been dyed again, the pink matching the interior of his store. “Alexander! Henry was just telling me about your customer service today. Socktastic day? You’re on fire. Auntie Pezza is incredibly proud.”

June poked her head out from the back room. “Alex! Hi! Aren’t you supposed to be learning close with Henry tonight?”

“Had some creative differences, actually. I got sent home.”

“Creative differences… did you fight Mom’s favourite employee again? She’s going to kill you when she finds out. You are so lucky that you aren’t dead yet.”

Pez let out a laugh. “Henry won’t touch a hair on this boy’s body. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. But Alex, what did you come for? You want something? It’s on the house.”

Alex grinned. “Bug, the usual. How’s it been today?”

June rolled her eyes and started on the drink. “Well, we’re working on scouting for new locations! Pez wants a spot at the mall down the road, but I think that’s too close to here.”

Pez shook his head in disagreement. “Catalina June, Starbucks are on every corner in this damn neighbourhood. I think we do a similar thing. The business would be everywhere, our name wouldn’t leave anyone’s lips! Alexander, you should consider working at one of my new franchises!”

“He’s not going to leave Sock It To Em until Henry gives him some form of approval.”

Alex scoffed. “I don’t need Henry’s approval. Besides, I like Bea too much to leave. We have fun.”

“Bea does talk about you quite a lot,” Pez stated, looking at his nails before he picked up his phone. “Oh, you can’t complain. Stop being so moody. Go home to your dog and eat some ice cream. No I will not tell him you said that. Goodbye, H.”

June handed Alex his drink, crossing her arms and looking him up and down. “You can’t keep messing with Henry like this. He’s not a bad guy,” She said. 

Pez nodded in agreement. “He will warm up to you when he’s ready. But if you keep giving him hell, he’s never going to like you. Which is hurtful, because you guys would be cute friends! The height difference is proof enough. I can see the instagram posts now.”

Alex just rolled his eyes. “Henry and I will never be friends. Never. See you at home, June.” He took a sip of his drink before he turned on his heel and started home. June and Pez shared a look.

“I give it two months.”

“One.”

“Well… guess we wait.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was two twenty eight pm when Nora walked into the staff hallway, a tray of coffees balanced precariously in one hand. June and Alex looked up at her, both grinning. Alex’s face lit up as he snatched his coffee from the tray. 

“See? This is why she’s my best friend.”

“Nora is our best friend, Alex.”

Nora rolled her eyes as she slid her back down the wall. “I am both of your friends, please. Stop acting like children, I have dealt with more than enough tiny humans for an eternity.”

Alex raised his eyebrow. “So the new job isn’t what you expected then? Serves you right for working two jobs.”

Nora was incredibly ambitious. She always had been, and she probably always would be. Currently, her resume has had a total of nine jobs since high school. She started out at the local frozen yoghurt hot spot, and her most recent addition was the kids clothing store downstairs.  
She was also a genius for one of the biggest computer companies in America, but apparently that wasn’t retail enough for her. 

“It's an experience. It’s something different! Besides, when will I ever get the opportunity to sell clothing to tiny humans? Literally never. It’s so much fun. I love messing with the mothers, and doing stupid things with the kids. I can mess around and everyone just thinks I’m doing good at my job. It’s pretty great, to be honest.”

“I think you’re crazy. Pez wants to poach you,” June stated, swirling her reusable iced coffee cup, attempting to mix it the best she could. “He thinks you have great potential.”

“Kind of hurt that Pez doesn’t think that I have great potential,” Alex thought out loud, smirking at June, who simply rolled her eyes.

“He has literally offered you a job like five times. You would remember if you had actually bothered to pay attention anytime he opened his mouth.”

“How have you not been paying attention to Pez? That man is…” Nora paused, taking a sip of her coffee before sighing. “Exquisite.”

“He’s Henry’s best friend. Therefore, there must be something wrong with him. He can’t be that outgoing and also be friends with someone who has the personality of a cardboard cutout. That doesn’t work.”

“So maybe Henry is hiding something. Did you ever consider that?” June suggested.

“He’s secretly an alien. He told me himself,” Nora teased, sipping her coffee again. “But you know, he probably just doesn’t want to mix personal and work. That’s very smart of him. I’m sure he will go far in the business world one day.”

Alex sighed. “Can you both stop talking him up so much? I only brought him up to insult him. Anyway, I’m so glad I don’t have to work with him today.”

Nora and June shared a look before June checked the time. “I better get going. Pez and I have some more big plans to work on today. Alex, your shift started three minutes ago.”

Alex grinned. “I’m aware. Bea is managing today, and she doesn’t really mind what time I get in. As long as I turn up!”

“You should do her a favour and stop being such a pain in the ass,” June stated, leaning down and kissing Alex’s forehead before heading off. He smiled, taking a long sip of his coffee before throwing the empty cup in the bin. 

“I’ll see you around, inferior Claremont-Diaz sibling,” Nora stated, waving to Alex as he got to his feet. 

“I’ll be there to walk you home tonight. Six pm. We can stop for coffee.”

“It’s a date.”

Alex grinned as he walked back to work. Knowing Henry wouldn’t be there made him feel almost weightless. He had no worries whatsoever. For once, it brought him joy to walk into the brightly coloured establishment he called his work place.

Bea looked up from the counter as Alex walked in, grinning and dropping her pen. “You came! Ugh, I’m so glad. You know, I have like seven cartons of cat socks in the stockroom, and I was just thinking, who is going to put them on the floor? And now you’re here! What perfect timing.”

“That would depend on what gifts you bestow upon me today,” Alex pointed out, placing his bag behind the counter before looking at Bea hopefully.

“I bring the gift of employment, isn’t that enough?”

“Of course not. I expect more. I’m a needy employee, Beatrice.”

Bea rolled her eyes and slid a packet of Reese’s Pieces onto the counter. “Are you satisfied now? I haven’t tried these before, but Henry quite enjoys them. I figured you probably would as well.”

Alex’s face lit up as he ripped open the packet with his teeth. “Thank you! But you should totally like, not mention Henry on my day off from him. It’s a blessing not to hear his voice.”

“Well, that’s rather awkward.”  
Alex looked up and frowned as he saw Henry standing in front of the counter in his work shirt, his arms folded neatly over his chest. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Didn’t Bea tell you? She has a job interview, so I’m covering her for the afternoon.”

Alex turned to Bea, shocked. “You’re thinking of leaving me? Bea! I thought we were friends!”

Bea let out a quiet laugh. “We are most certainly friends, Alex. But there’s this tattoo internship I really want to go for, so Henry is covering me this afternoon. I’m sure you’ll get started on that stock for me though, right?”

He hesitated as he looked between the two siblings. You really wouldn’t know they were related unless you asked. Bea was just on such a different level to Henry. For starters, she was kind. 

“Fine. But only because you brought me candy. And I will be expecting more next time,” Alex stated, crossing his arms and brushing past Henry as he headed straight for the stockroom. 

Bea sighed. “Be gentle with him, H. He’s not the worst thing the world has to offer, you know that.”

“He has a terrible work ethic, and he’s annoying! The things I do for you,” He huffed, placing his bag on the counter before pulling Bea into a tight hug. “You will get this. You will get this and it’s going to be absolutely amazing for you.”

She hugged him back tightly. “It will. Thank you again. See you tonight!”

And then, Bea was gone. 

Alex poked his head out of the storeroom, a smirk on his face. “So, did you end up having a socktastic day?” He asked, a glint in his eye.

Henry let out a long, annoyed sigh. “I beg you to not. You know, if you messed around this much in any other business, I would have you fired. It would be a simple report to HR, and gone. It’s miraculous that your own mother hasn’t decided to let you go. It would be a terrific choice on her part.”

“Well, I am ridiculously charming. Customers love me. I don’t have to put on some fake voice and fancy clothes to make people like me, they just do. You, on the other hand…”

“I strongly dislike you and your work ethic. I hope you’re aware of that.”

“Hate is the strongest form of admiration, really. I’m sure you just can’t stop thinking about me.”

“Back to the current task at hand, your job. Can you do it, please? I don’t want to have to send you home again.”

“You wouldn’t dream send me home early again. You think about me too much for that,” Alex stated, shoving his Airpods in and disappearing back into the storeroom. 

He didn’t mind stock. It was a lot better with Bea, of course, but work was always better with Bea. She would turn on some random alternative album and blast it while they ate snacks and talked about everything going on with their lives. When Alex did stock on Bea’s shifts, he was rewarded every time he got through a box. On Henry’s shifts….

Alex removed his Airpod as he heard the faint sounds of a disgruntled customer. That was unusual. Henry never made anyone mad, in fact, people preferred Henry’s service over anything else.

He took a few steps forward and opened the door, looking out onto the shop floor. He was honestly kind of shocked to see Henry almost cowering in front of an old woman. She was a sizeable amount shorter than him, but that didn’t seem to do anything.

“If you think you have the right to call me love then you’ve got one thing wrong! You absolute pig boy! You disgust me! You don’t know me, so why the heck do you think you can treat me like this?”

“M’am, I’m so terribly sorry. I am-”

“No, you are ridiculous. I want to speak to your manager. People like you disgust me.”

“I-”

Alex’s eyes widened as the woman used her handbag, slamming it into Henry’s crotch. He was quick to make his move.

“Excuse me! I need you to exit this store right now. You do not get to touch one of my team members,” Alex snapped, biting his lip as he grabbed Henry’s arm. “I am going to call security and have them escort you from the premises. What you just did could be classed as assault!”

The woman looked Alex up and down and laughed. “Why did they hire you? I hope our next president sends pigs like you back to where they came from,” She spat before turning on her heel and walking out.  
Alex felt his heart drop a little. He bit down hard on his lip before dropping Henry’s arm and heading straight for the door, slamming it shut. “We’re done for the day.”

Henry raised his eyebrow, his body still slightly hunched over. “You don’t get to determine that. As the manager-”

“Henry, we’re done.” 

“Oh. Alright then,” He said quietly, leaning himself against the counter and frowning. “Are you alright?”

“Fine. Why was she so aggressive anyway? Did you insult her with your smile and lack of sock puns?”

“Even worse. I called her love.”

Alex smiled a little. “I… you can close up?” He asked, grabbing his bag. 

Henry looked Alex up and down before hesitating. “I am. But I will see you tomorrow at eleven thirty for your next shift,” He stated. “Alex? Be careful on your way home. And what she said…”

“Don’t worry about it. See you tomorrow,” he said, heading out into the mall. He thought first maybe he could just wait out the rest of Nora’s shift in the back room of her store, but he didn’t much like the idea of being able to hear screaming children through the walls.

Instead, he headed up to the Flamingo Lounge and placed himself at the bar in front of June. “Hi. I finished early. Drink?”

June raised her eyebrow. “Mom didn’t say anything about closing early today. Did you get into a fight with Henry again? That’s kind of a dick move, Alex. He really isn’t that bad.”

“No. We had… we had a weird situation. Closed early. That’s all,” Alex said, pulling out his phone and swiping through the screens absentmindedly. “How has your work been?”

“Well, we need new promo photos. Pez wants Henry in them, but he won’t let Pez touch his hair, and it has to be pink. Because you know… Pez. Henry really isn’t fond of the idea though. He was really grumpy when he left here today. First time I’ve ever seen him upset.”

Alex raised his eyebrow. “He was fine when he got into work. It was kind of disappointing to expect a shift with Bea and end up with Henry. He’s such a downer sometimes. I really do think that Mom should just fire him, or at least make me a manager so I can be his equal.”

“I don’t think being a manager would suit you, my dearest Alexander,” Pez called out, poking his head out from the back room. 

June raised her eyebrow. “Thank you, Pez. Back to the original question, why are you here so early?”

“I would rather not talk about it. I’m sure Henry will file an incident report, you can read through it then.”

“Incident report? Alex-”

“It was nothing.”

June took a moment to look him up and down before giving in. “Well-”

“H won’t do what I need him to! Alexander, my other favourite Claremont-Diaz. How are you, my radiant cherub? I need a favour,” Pez interrupted as he walked out from the back room, placing a pile of cups on the counter next to June. “You are the only one that can pull this off. I will pay you with free drinks for the rest of your life.’

Alex raised his eyebrow and leaned back a little in his chair. “Convince me then,” He said, smiling before he almost lost his balance. June reached over the bar and steadied him. 

Pez smiled, levelling himself with Alex on the bar. He rested his arms flat against the pink surface, a big grin stretching from ear to ear. “So I need Henry for this next shoot. Here’s the thing though, I need his hair to be pink.”  
Alex’s eyebrow raised further. “He’s your best friend. Can’t you just ask him?”

“He won’t do it for me. To be honest, he’s going to hate me for this, but I need you to sabotage his shampoo.”

June frowned. “Pez, don’t you think that’s just going to push Alex and Henry’s relationship to the edge? They fight enough as it is.”

“They do, but frankly I am desperate. I want H for this shoot more than anything, and I’m sure once I explain to him afterwards, everything will be fine!”

“And you said free drinks for a lifetime?” Alex confirmed, looking between both June and Pez.

Pez nodded. “A lifetime. Or until we shut down due to some asshole health inspector.”

“Alex, don’t you think this is a bad idea?”

He looked between June and Pez again before a small smile crept up on his face. “I’m in.”


	3. Chapter 3

“So we got a new coffee machine at work.”

“Hm.”

“It’s really strong. Bea said we only got it because I complained to Mom and it was apparently the most Veruca Salt moment I have ever had. But constant free coffee on shift?”

Nora looked up from her phone as she flipped through the music on her phone, settling on some old One Direction song. She had been put in charge of the music while her store’s system was broken. Most of her playlist options were rather inappropriate for a kid’s store, leaving her to find the most stereotypical pop to exist. 

Alex didn’t mind, but he wasn’t the one who had to listen to it on repeat for the next eight hours.

“Don’t you have like, a heart or something? Isn’t that going to struggle to keep up with all the caffeine? And yes, I know that’s a stupid question to ask you.”

“No. Henry says if I pass out from a caffeine overdose, it’ll be a blessing. You know, Henry doesn’t drink coffee. It doesn’t make any sense to me, personally. He always has so much energy and so much personality, but no coffee? How does that work anyway?”

“Maybe he’s on stimulant drugs, I don’t know. You’ve been talking about Henry a lot recently.”

“Because he’s super annoying, obviously.”

“And that’s all? He’s just… annoying?”

“Yes. Do you not listen?”

“I just think it’s sweet how you’re kind of obsessed with him.”

Alex scoffed and put down the coffee he had been nursing in his hand. “Obsessed? What the hell do you mean obsessed?”

“Children,” Nora said, taking a sip from her own reusable coffee cup.

He sighed and took a breath. “Look, whatever. He doesn’t like me, I don’t like him. I’m kind of like, fascinated by him. But I don’t like him. That’s for sure. What time do you finish today?”

“Nine. We have stocktake after we close. I’m going out for dinner with June and Pez after that, though.”

“And you never thought to invite me? Now that is just incredibly rude,” Alex responded, faking shock.

“Henry will be there.”

“Oh. Thanks anyway. I don’t know why you would want to hang out with someone that has the personality of a-”

“Cardboard cutout? You just need to get to know him Alex. It’s not that hard. This rivalry thing is stupid.”

“Look, as long as we work together, I don’t think we will ever like each other. It’s just how it is.” 

Nora just rolled her eyes. “And the shampoo thing. Have you done that yet?” She asked curiously.

He shook his head before taking a long sip of his coffee. “I have the dye. I’m actually working with Bea again today, but he comes in to visit when he does his shopping anyway. So when he comes in, I just do a little switcheroo and we’re sorted! Nothing can go wrong.”

“You’re Alexander Claremont-Diaz. Everything will go wrong.”

“You really have no faith in me?” He asked, laughing and shaking his head. “I’m amazing at everything I do.”

“Does that explain why you can’t get a job anywhere other than your mother’s business?” Nora said, smirking a little.

Alex shifted a bit at that comment. He went to check the time on his empty wrist, clearing his throat as he picked up his coffee and his bag. “I should… get to work. Lots to do,” He said quietly, heading for the door.

Nora frowned. “Alex, you know I didn’t-”

“See you tomorrow, Nora!” 

His shoulders were tense as he made his way to Sock It To Em. He had been thinking about that a lot lately. Maybe there was a reason that Henry was the manager and Alex was just… Alex. Maybe there was a reason that he had applied at hundreds of jobs and never heard back.

He knew he was smart, and good at customer service. He just wasn’t particularly a master at interviews. His hands get clammy and he talks too much, employers never like that.

There was no use worrying about it now. He put on a smile as he walked into work, relaxing a little as he saw Bea behind the counter. “She has returned from the dead! The best manager in the store!”

Bea looked up and smiled. “Alex! Good afternoon. You look lovely, do you think you have time for a chat pre shift? I have some news.”

“What kind of news? Did we get more new stock? Did they run out of candy? Did Henry finally leave the country and go back to England? Please tell me it’s the last one.”

“I’m not going back to England, Alex,” Henry stated as he walked in behind them both. He placed himself between the two of them, placing his bag down on the counter. “Why don’t you go busy yourself with the turkey socks?”

“I don’t quite understand why those are a thing,” Bea stated, opening Henry’s bag and going through it curiously. 

Alex raised his eyebrow. “Don’t you guys have like, thanksgiving in England? What do you eat at Christmas?”

“Roast,” Henry and Bea responded at the same time, both sharing a smile.

Alex crossed his arms. “Weird. So weird. I still don’t think you guys are rela- oh!” He spotted the shampoo and conditioner poking out of Henry’s bag, his mind drifting back to his mission. “You know, I’m just so curious to know what you use in your hair. It always looks super effortless.”

Henry raised his eyebrow. “I.. are you complimenting me? Is he complimenting me? Are you feeling alright?”

Bea smiled. “Look at you both being friends! I’m so proud. Good Alex!” She pulled out a gummy bear from the packet she was keeping under the tills. “You’re both growing so much!”

Alex caught the candy in his mouth, grinning. “Mm. Thank you. And… sort of. But I want to take a photo of your hair stuff! I just… left my phone in the back room. I’m going to take these…” He grabbed the shampoo and conditioner out of Henry’s bag.

“Your phone is in your hand, Alex.”

“Right. Well, the lighting is better!” he said, heading straight into the back room and closing the door behind him.

He was quick to pull the pink dye Pez gave him out of his bag. He raised his eyebrow as he noticed a pink crystal sitting next to it. He really needed to leave his things where June couldn’t get to them.

He placed his coffee on the floor before awkwardly huddling over the bin, tipping out some of the shampoo and conditioner. He smirked rather triumphantly as he began pouring the dye into the now half empty container. He probably should have brought a funnel or something.

“Shit,” He cursed quietly. The dye was coming out faster than expected, and seconds before it was overflowing onto the new pile of socks. Christ, his mom was going to literally murder him. 

After a quick clean up and pep talk as he finished the conditioner, he shoved the bottles closed and returned back out onto the floor, handing them to Henry proudly. “Yeah, I don’t think these are going to work for my hair. I took a sample to try, though. Thanks man!”

Henry looked Alex up and down, a pretty confused look on his face. “Uh, very well. Bea, I’ll be home late tonight. Make sure you feed David and Mr. Wobbles,” He said, blushing a little as he turned to leave. He paused before turning back around and holding his hand out. “Alex.”

Alex raised his eyebrow at Henry’s outstretched hand but just bumped it with his fist. “Bye you crazy Brit! Have fun with my sister at dinner tonight! She is single!”

Henry’s face went firm again as he just let out a sigh, turning and leaving. 

“What the fuck is a Mr. Wobbles anyway?” Alex asked curiously, placing himself next to Bea behind the counter.

“He’s my cat. Henry has David, I have Mr. Wobbles. They get along like a house on fire. Why are your hands pink?”

Alex looked down. His hands were incredibly pink. Shit. Maybe Henry hadn’t noticed. 

“They are. Made a bit of a mess in the back room, but I’ll stay after my shift to clean it up! I promise.”

“That’s alright. I’m sure it’s not too bad. Anyway, I have something really important to tell you. I figured you would like to hear from me first rather than your mother. She has just been so wonderful to work for…”

“Yeah, Mom is pretty cool. But like, you’re going to keep working for her anyway! No need to say early goodbyes.”

“Well, that’s the thing. So I went for a tattoo internship, that interview from the other day?”

Alex shifted a little. “Yeah…”

“Well, it turns out, I got it! I start in two weeks so I will be leaving Sock It To Em next Friday!”

Alex paled and began to feel a tad sick in his stomach. “I uh… you what?”

“I got my internship! Isn’t this incredible?”

He leaned on the counter for support, trying not to lose his breakfast. “Yeah… amazing.”


	4. Chapter 4

Henry’s morning started off normal.

He woke up to the sounds of Bea’s singing in the shower, accompanied by Mr. Wobbles meowing for food at his door. He groaned as he stretched out, smiling as he noticed David curled up at the foot of his bed.

“Good morning, David. Rise and shine. We have to fit a walk-in sometime before work, you’re looking a tad too comfy there.” He leaned over and scratched under David’s chin, letting out a sigh.

The towel he had draped around his hair last night had fallen off at some point in the night and was laying sprawled on the floor. He usually wasn’t incredibly fond of sleeping with wet hair, but he had been ridiculously exhausted after dinner.

Pez was normal, too. Well, as normal as he could be. He was going on and on about the photoshoot Henry had already said no to. He really wasn’t sure why he continued to press on the issue, but Henry had more important things to worry about. 

He pulled on his dressing gown. It was an embroidered one that Bea had given him for his birthday. He hated to admit how much he loved it.

Taking a moment to stretch, Henry made his way to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Bea opened the door, wrapped in a matching robe. “Good morning H! You look a tad different,” She stated, reaching up to touch his hair. “So you decided to do the photoshoot then? I’m sure Pez is going to be pleased !”

Henry raised his eyebrow. “What on earth are you…” His jaw dropped as he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

His hair was pink. That was… not normal. Not normal at all. 

He pushed past Bea and just ran his hands through his hair, confused. “How did this happen? I told Pez no! I said I didn’t want to change my hair! Bea, Jesus Christ!” He cried out, his face paling and blushing all at the same time.

“How should I know? I was asleep when you got home last night. Maybe you did it yourself in some hazy forgetful state?” Bea suggested, stepping closer to Henry and fluffing up his hair. “It’s kind of sweet, honestly. Pink suits you.”

“Pink suits me? Bea, no. This is so incredibly unprofessional. Ellen is going to kill me. We went into this job with a promise of no unnatural hair colour! I look like a clown!”

“You look handsome as ever. Let’s make some breakfast, take a breath, and calm ourselves down?”

“I am not going to calm down!” Henry yelled, slamming his fist on the bathroom counter. 

Bea took a step back, frowning. “H, I know this is upsetting but you’re being ridiculous. You are sounding like Phillip.”

Henry’s face fell at that comment. He knew how much Bea disliked their brother sometimes, he didn’t want to be anything similar to that. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You are right. I am sorry, I am so deeply sorry for losing my top like that. Will you forgive me?”

Bea let out a sigh, folding her arms across her chest. “I will always forgive you. You are my brother, and my best friend. But you must understand that I do not like you when you have your head in your arse like that.”

Before Henry could continue to apologise, they were both interrupted by Mr Wobbles letting out a loud meow. Bea looked down at the cat before scooping him up in her arms. “RIght now, you need to sit down, take a breath and call Pez. I’m sure he can talk you through this and at least clear your mind.”

Henry huffed and rubbed his face, incredibly frustrated. “You’re right, you’re right. I am going to kill him.”

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions, shall we? We just need a murder free week, it’s going to be okay, H.”

He sighed, pulling out his phone. Almost as if on cue, the photo Henry had set as Pez’s contact filled up the screen. It was one of the two of them, smiling at the beach. Frankly, it made him kind of angry. He picked up the call and walked into the lounge, sitting on the couch.

“Henry! Good morning. I was hoping I would catch you before work. I wanted to talk about-”

“Percy Okonjo, I need you to tell me right now why my hair is pink.”

“Pardon? Mate, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

“My hair is pink. I haven’t touched it and the only person that wanted it pink was you for your stupid photoshoot and bloody hell Percy, do you have any idea how embarrassing this is? I can’t go to work like this. I look ridiculous!”

“I’m sure you look stunning, H.”

“No, no I don’t. I look like a salmon. I look like your store threw up on me, no offence. Wait, no, yes offence! Percy, how could you do this to me? I feel… ugh! I’m so mad right now, you have no idea! I would literally kill you if you were with me right now. I don’t want to leave the house like this.”

“Henry! Calm. Down. I haven’t done anything. I know that puts me right in the line of fire because yes, that is exactly what I wanted, but I wouldn’t want to stress you out this much.”

Henry let out a loud sniffle. “Then why is it like this? Please. Tell me. Because bloody hell, I can’t… I can’t deal with this.”

“Are you sure you got the right shampoo? Maybe you grabbed the wrong bottle by accident. You have been a tad more stressed out lately with Bea moving on from work and everything.”

“No, no. No, I got the exact same bottle as I usually get. I’m not- the only thing that happened was…”

“Yes? Look, whatever happened I’m sure we can-”

“Alex. Alex took the bottles to the back room. I thought it was suspicious but we were getting on so well.”

“Oh. Are you-”

“Percy, I am going to end him. I despise him. I-I’m calling Zahra.”

“Henry, are you sure?”

“Positive. Alexander Claremont-Diaz is going down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!
> 
> it was super weird for me to write from henry's pov let me TELL YOU!!!
> 
> i'm super super enjoying writing this. it's taking away my sadness from not being at work lmao.
> 
> i hope everyone is loving it . stay tuned for the next update hopefully sometime this week!


	5. Chapter 5

It was early when Alex woke up the next morning. He had originally planned on a sleep in, considering that his shift wasn’t until two. He had planned to meet Nora beforehand, but that still wasn’t for a good five hours.

He ignored his phone the first time. He wasn’t awake enough to pair the ringtone to the person calling, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 was the song he had assigned for his mother. 

Alex grabbed his phone on the second ring and tried his best to wake up a little more. “Mom! Good morning. How’s it going? You know, I have been having a pretty good time at work recently. Our sales are up, maybe it’s time to start talking about a promotion?”

“Diaz, stop talking. You have a meeting with Zahra in half an hour at the store. Please don’t be late. This needs to be done before the store opens, June is replacing you at your shift today.”

His face fell. Why on earth did he need a meeting? “Mom, that’s ridiculous. June doesn’t even work for us, I mean you. Henry and I will be fine working together. We’re actually getting along a little more!”

“That’s the problem, Diaz. Henry is threatening to resign over something stupid that you did. You need to apologise and fix it because frankly, I can’t lose another manager. I like Henry, he’s a good kid. If he leaves, you are being let go. Your stupid mistakes can’t keep messing with my company’s reputation like this.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? Is that all that you have to say? Alex, are you not listening to me? This is serious! You will be coming for dinner tonight and we will be talking over this thoroughly, is that clear?”

“I-”

“Yes. Yes is the correct answer, Diaz. See you tonight.”

Alex flinched as Ellen hung up on him. He began to chew down on his lip hard. Meeting in half an hour? So early and with no notice? Zahra was going to tear him apart.

When he arrived, he pulled his coffee out of the pocket of his overalls and took another sip as he knocked on the sliding door. He still wasn’t really awake enough for whatever this was, but he had to put on a brave face.

It was Henry who opened the door, his hair was bright pink. Alex had to hold in a laugh as he caught sight of him. “Good morning, Henry. New hair? You know, it suits you qu-”

“Shut up. I don’t want to listen to your bullshit,” Henry snapped, shutting the door behind Alex as he walked in. “Zahra went to get a refill on her coffee. I don’t want to hear the sound of your voice until she gets back.”

Alex frowned as he put his bag down. “I was just saying… don’t you think you’re overreacting slightly?”

Henry’s face pinched in that stupid way it always does. “You’re joking. You think… ugh! I’m not overreacting. You sabotaged my personal stuff when I thought we were finally getting along! I can take the lack of effort and the stupid comments but this is on another level! You have really fucking hurt me, Alexander.”

His jaw dropped. He had never heard Henry utter a swear before. Alex realised he probably should have listened to June.

Zahra opened the door behind them and sighed, taking a large sip of her coffee. “Good. You’re both here. Alex, Henry, take a seat. Preferably, don’t rip each other apart. We’re here to talk in a safe… ugh. You know what? We’re all adults, let’s not cover this with fluffy policies.”

“I think we both know how the world works, Miss Bankston,” Henry said, sitting down on one of the benches in the store. Alex hesitated before sitting next to him, looking between Henry and Zahra. 

“Can I say something?” Alex asked cautiously.

“No,” Zahra responded, sighing. “Sorry, let me go over the action plan, Henry will talk, then you can apologise and be weird frenemies again. Your mother wants you to know that if Henry feels your apology isn’t genuine or if there is another incident in the next few weeks, you will be let go.”

Alex noticed Henry shifted a little bit at Zahra’s statement. God, he really couldn’t afford to be let go from his first and only job. He took a deep breath and just nodded, staying silent.

“Fox, could you set the stage for us? Let’s talk through the incident, but seriously be quick because I have like, a million other things to do today.”

Alex noticed Henry sat up slightly more straight before speaking, he had never really taken notice of his manager’s posture before, or how his skin looked so pale against the pink of his hair. It really suited him, if Alex was honest.

“It was Tuesday, around half one. I came in to visit my sister while she was working and had just run some errands as well. As soon as I walked in, Alexander was weirdly interested in my hair care.”

Zahra turned to Alex and gave him a look. “Alex, that is so fucking weird. Fox, continue.”

“He has nice hair! Look, it's so fluffy and nice!” Alex said, reaching over to touch Henry’s hair. 

“Claremont-Diaz, hands to yourself.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Henry huffed before continuing. “He took my personal items to the backroom, returned with them five minutes later and then I woke up with my hair like this. I checked the security footage yesterday and found him tampering with-”

“You know what? In my defence, I was paid in free drinks to do it! Yes, maybe agreeing to it was a dumb idea, I didn’t think about it, really. That was my mistake and I am paying for it with the gui-”

“Alexander, will you shut the fuck up!” Henry yelled, staring him down. “I am sorry, but this isn’t about you. You fucked me over, you messed with my things! This is more than just some stupid fucking prank, so if you could take one second to shut the fuck up and just listen then that would be fucking splendid!” 

Zahra’s eyes widened and she just looked between the two of them. “You know what? We don’t need a meeting for this. You both need to work out your differences and be friends. Henry, Alex does stupid shit all the time and I am so sorry that he did this, but it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. Alex, Henry is not enemy number one. You both have strengths and weaknesses. You level each other out incredibly well, so this is what’s going to happen.”She paused as she took a sip of her coffee, rubbing her forehead with her other arm. 

“You both give me such a headache. Okay, starting this week, you’re both going to be friends. Henry, I will forward you the information for dinner tonight at the Claremont household. Alex, you are going to be working with Henry exclusively and catching up with him outside of work. I don’t care if it’s coffee or a fucking sleepover, make it happen. Are we happy?”

Both Henry and Alex stared at her in shock, neither of them really moving or saying anything.

Zahra took another sip before standing. “Wonderful. See you both at dinner tonight. Henry, don’t forget to send me your sales results at two. Bye!” She said, grabbing her bag and leaving the store. 

Alex tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he tried to process what had just happened. “I um…”

“We’re not friends, Alex. We can play pretend for the grown-ups, but I will be honest, I despise you so much right now. If it were up to me, you would have been fired. Get out of my store.” He paused for a moment before sighing and adding, “Please.”

Alex grabbed his bag from beside the seat before standing up. “So… I will see you tonight? I hope you’re hungry, family dinners are always super big. Mom makes these ribs, they’re to die for.”

Henry’s brows just furrowed before he looked at Alex and went stone cold again. “Remember when I asked you to leave?”

“Oh, right. Okay. Bye then.”

“Goodbye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so henry is SUPER angry. 
> 
> it hurt me to write this. both for alex to be sad or to henry to be mad but it had to be this way!
> 
> i have had so much more time to write and i am super excited to update this more often. keep your eyes peeled!
> 
> feel free to hmu on twitter if you enjoyed this! my @ is hisroyalhenry :)


	6. Chapter 6

Alex didn’t know what to do with himself for the rest of the day.

He wanted to feel relieved that Henry didn’t hate him, or at least didn’t seem to completely want him dead, but something still felt wrong. More than anything, Alex felt guilty that he had created a messy situation all for the sake of free boba.

It wasn’t his worst plan yet, that was for sure. But for some reason, seeing Henry get so angry that he almost turned red, it made him feel more guilt than he usually would over bothering Henry. 

Alex took great pride in annoying the living daylights out of his least favourite manager. Maybe they didn’t exactly get along at work, but they didn’t want to murder each other there. Maybe it was more of a mutual acquaintanceship. Whatever Alex and Henry had, it was about to change. 

Being fake friends with Henry felt stupid. To be honest, it had kind of pissed Alex off for Zahra to just toss aside their issues that easily. Although, that wasn’t the only thing annoying him. Alex knew for a fact Henry would have called Pez about the hair thing, and he had just shoved the blame straight to Alex anyway?

He would have to question his allegiance to the Flamingo Lounge later, but for now, he had to try and get himself out of bed.

He stared at the roof for what felt like minutes, but before he knew it, June was knocking on his door and poking her head in. 

“Hey, idiot! You know, working with Henry is actually so nice. You should try getting along with him at some point,” She paused as she looked at Alex’s dishevelled room and his messy bed hair. “Have you achieved anything today? Like, leaving your bed? Mom is going to kill you when she gets home. Henry tells me he’s coming for dinner.”

Alex let out a groan and rolled himself over, now laying on his side instead of his back. “I went to the meeting this morning, I would count that as achieving something. I don’t have anything to achieve besides work, anyway, but you took over that for me today. You know, I have the best KPIs the whole store, I even beat Bea and Henry combined! And yet-”

“Alex, let’s talk about something that isn’t you for once. We do that sometimes, remember?” June said, sitting down on the edge of his bed and dumping a pile of multi-coloured tabloids near his feet. She picked up the nearest one, looking over it curiously. “Ah, look at this one! Mom had an interview about work, isn’t that cool? Self made millionaire by thirty.”

“I’ve heard the story,” Alex grumbled, sitting up in bed and glancing over at the pile of tabloids. He let the silence settle for a moment before he spoke again, “Did he say anything?”

“Did who say anything, Alex?”

“Henry. Did he say anything about me?”

June sighed as she put her magazine down. “Do you want the truth or a lie? What’s going to make you feel better?”

“You’re my sister, can’t you figure that part out for me?”

“There are some decisions you need to make yourself, such as what you’re going to wear to dinner tonight. I was thinking you should wear that nice button down Mom got you, with your black jeans! That would be nice, right?”

“I’m not coming to dinner. I don’t want to spend anymore time with Henry then I have to. God, I should just call him and tell him not to come.”

“Again, Mom will kill you. How about I go run a bath for you? That could be a nice way to calm down and feel a little bit better? You could even do a face mask.”

“Mom killing me isn’t even a problem that’s on my mind right now. I’m her baby boy, she’ll support me with whatever I do. God, I could probably create an international disaster and she would still support me.”

“Well then, Zahra will kill you.”

“Zahra’s harmless. Please, just let me continue to wallow in my own existence. I’m having a great time,” Alex muttered, shoving a pillow over his face as he laid back down.

June sighed, grabbing the stack of magazines she had left on Alex’s bed. “I’m coming back to check on you before dinner. Please come, it’ll be nice. Even if you don’t want to see Henry, Nora is coming too and she’s not going to let it go if you don’t turn up.”

Alex let out a grunt in response, turning away from June yet again. He had no intentions of showing up for that dinner, even if the idea of his mom’s grill made his mouth water. He felt the weight lift off his bed and heard the door close, followed by soft footsteps treading down the hallway.

His shoulders relaxed as he removed the pillow from his face, staring back up at the ceiling. His eyes closed as he started to think about how mad Henry was in the meeting, and the way the word fuck rolled off his tongue.

He didn’t even realise he was asleep until he felt someone gently shaking his shoulder. Alex groaned as he grabbed the pillow from beside him, flinging it in the direction of the person that was shaking him. “June, I’m not coming to fucking dinner!” He exclaimed.

“Ow! Christ, I’m not June!

Alex’s face fell as he opened his eyes and quickly sat up. Standing right by his bed was Henry, staring him down with a rather annoyed look on his face. He did a quick sweep of his room to make sure that nothing embarrassing was laying around, biting down hard on his lip.

“Shit, man I’m so sorry. Can we not tell my mom about that? I swear that wasn’t on purpose. I really can’t afford to lose this job…”

“Okay! Okay. Calm down, Alex. I’m not here to create chaos in your house. To be completely honest with you, the only reason I’m here is because I’m too scared to say no to Zahra. I’m not here for you, I’m here for me,” He paused as he looked around the room, turning away from Alex as he noticed a poster on the wall. “I didn’t know you liked Star Wars.”

Alex gulped as he got up from bed, looking down at his wrinkled clothes from that morning. He quickly attempted to smooth them out before stumbling over to Henry, standing up straight next to Henry. “I didn’t know you knew what Star Wars was,” Alex responded, crossing his arms.

He took a moment to look Henry up and down. His hair was still pink, very pink. Alex honestly thought it looked better than Henry’s usual dirty blonde, but he knew that wouldn’t be a popular opinion between the two of them. He was wearing a maroon dress shirt and a rather tight pair of skinny jeans. 

“Well, I do have a life outside of work. A personality, too. Are you wearing that to dinner? I can step out if you would like to get into something more…” He looked Alex up and down. “Uh, not slept in.”

“One second,” Alex said, just going over to his wardrobe. He threw his shirt off and grabbed a white t-shirt from his drawers. He pulled the white shirt on before turning back to Henry. “There. Let’s go.”

Henry’s cheeks had turned pink in the moments Alex had his back turned. Alex said nothing.

The two of them headed out of his room and down the stairs into the kitchen. Amongst the noise, Alex could hear Dolly Parton playing in the background. He half rolled his eyes, wishing his Mom would actually listen to other music.

Ellen and Leo were standing next to each other in front of the stove, Leo with his arm around Ellen’s waist. Zahra was perched on the kitchen island, tapping away at something on her phone. Alex didn’t know who she texted half the time, but she never seemed to let that thing go. 

Zahra looked up and sighed. “Good, you retrieved the corpse. Ellen, your mess is here,” she said, looking back down at her phone as she started typing again. 

Ellen looked up and smiled. “Alex! Hi! You were asleep when I got home,” She said, pulling him into a hug. Alex took in the scent of meat as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“I was tired. You woke me up early, remember?”

“I do remember that, Diaz. Don’t sass me. Nora and June were setting the table, you should go find them. Show Henry around, will you? He is a guest and if I hear any bickering, he isn’t the one that’s going to be removed,” She said, pulling away from the hug. 

Leo looked up from the stove. “Hi, Alex. Good day at work?”

“He didn’t work,” Ellen responded before Alex could, rushing him and Henry out of the kitchen. 

Alex tensed as they both moved into the lounge, looking around. “Uh, this is where we watch tv and relax. Do British people have lounge rooms?” He asked, looking to Henry and crossing his arms.

Henry stared at Alex in disbelief. Alex noticed his mouth pinched in that one spot again before he just sighed. “We have lounge rooms, Alex. I do have some understanding of how the universe works.”

“Oh. Good. I just figured you might have, I don’t know, some underground lair type thing with, like, an evil cat. A tea dungeon? Would you call it a tea dungeon?”

“Alex.”

“Oh, yeah. Getting along. Anyway…” Alex continued, walking on down the hall. “This is where we bathe, the pool is out there, do British people swim? You have been to the beach, right? Maybe if we still have to be friends when it’s warmer, you can come swim.”

Henry rolled his eyes, sighing again. “Again, I do have a basic understanding of life, Alex. How about we go see June and Nora?”

“Is my company not satisfying all of your needs?” Alex asked, gaining a rather stern look from Henry. He shifted slightly before moving into the dining room. 

Nora and June sitting at the end of the table together, chatting away. They both looked up as Henry and Alex walked in. Nora sprung out of her chair and launched herself onto Alex.

“My favourite Claremont-Diaz sibling! Alex, you have to tell June that I’m right. She says that I can’t safely shoot myself off a treadmill into the pool! I was actually going to do it down the stairs, but June-”

“I said she’s stupid and she’s going to get hurt. Hi Henry! I’m so glad you came! Was the traffic okay?” June interrupted, smiling. 

Henry left Alex’s side and went to sit down next to June. “It was good! Nice easy run. I think I need to get my car serviced soon, though. It’s starting to make some rumbly noises.”

“Wait, you can drive?” Alex asked, sitting down next to Henry.

Henry raised his eyebrow as he turned back to Alex. “Of course, can’t you?”

Alex shifted a little. “No.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” Henry turned back to June and they continued to chat. Alex tried to chime in when he could, but ended up turning to face Nora, who had sat down across the table. 

“So, how was your day?”

“Well, someone was supposed to meet me for coffee and they didn’t show up.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, and you didn’t turn up! You’re an ass. June told me all you did today was mope around, you couldn’t have left the house for coffee with your favourite ex fuck buddy?”

“We never fucked, Nora.”

“No, we didn’t, but we are still ex fuck buddies! Anyway, it was hectic. People are doing Christmas shopping which is super weird, considering that Christmas isn't for another what, six months? I don’t understand.”

“That’s super weird, are you excited for dinner?”

“Oh, totally. You get sick of eating nothing but tofu replacements sometimes. I love my parents, but I don’t like being vegetarian. Ellen’s cooking though, ugh! Sometimes I wish she was actually my Mom in law. “

“I mean, there’s June.”

“There is,” She said, pulling out her phone and beginning to flip through something. He sighed as he did the same, trying to cure his boredom before the remainder of the adults came into the room. 

As they ate, the conversations split into thirds. There was June, Nora and Ellen, chatting about the current fast fashion movement. Then, Leo and Zahra were chatting about some ancient alcohol, which left…

Alex cleared his throat as he looked over to Henry. The pink haired Brit now had barbeque sauce stained around his mouth, and Alex couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You’ve um… got something… yeah.”

Henry tilted his head to the side and grabbed a napkin, gently dabbing at his mouth? “Better?”

Alex huffed and took his own napkin, wiping the bits around Henry’s mouth that he missed. “There. I… oh shit, sorry.” Alex dropped the napkin on the table and looking down at his empty plate.

“I don’t understand you, Alex.”

Alex looked up again, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What do you mean, you don’t understand me?”

Henry shifted, crossing his arms and looking to Alex. Why did he always do that when they spoke?

“You make my life at work a living hell, but the second some kind of threat is imposed onto me, you soften. You protect me. So either you pretend to hate me and you actually really enjoy my company, or…”

“Or?”

“I don’t know. But I can’t wrap my head around you, and quite frankly, it pisses me off.”

“Oh.”

“You should figure out which one it is, Alex. I don’t want to go through with this fake friendship if nothing is going to come out of it. So, figure it out.”

“And when I do?”

“When you do, maybe we can look into actually getting along. For now? I don’t want to see you outside of business hours after this.”

Alex glanced over the table at his mother, shifting as well. “My mom really likes you. She doesn’t want to lose you from the company,” he said, fidgeting with his napkin as he did. 

“I am aware. Your mother doesn’t invite all of her employees over for family dinner, I’m sure.”

“No. Just you.”

“Ah. Anyway, think about it. I sure would love to know what about me makes you want to turn my hair bright pink as a punishment.” Henry paused, taking a sip from his wine glass. “I have a photoshoot with Pez on Monday. Come and we can call it even?”

Alex frowned. “But you just said-”

“I did, and now I’ve changed my mind. So, come?” Henry held out his hand to Alex.

Alex sighed and shook it. “You’re on, Fox.”


	7. Chapter 7

“It needs to be a little to the left.”

Alex looked up from where he was kneeled over in the front window. They had been sent a new shipment of stock for the display, and it was frankly a nightmare to set up. It should have been a simple task, really. Henry usually had it done by the time Alex came into his shift, but ever since their meeting, Zahra had refused to let Alex or Henry work alone. Instead, they were rostered on every day together, from eight in the morning until five at night.

Tonight was a little different. The store had closed early so that both Alex and Henry could work on some stocktake, as well as change over the visual merchandising for the start of the next month. So far, the set up was filled with Henry’s complaints over how Alex was doing it wrong.

Alex slumped and sat down, crossing his legs and staring at it. “If you’re so particular on how it looks, why don’t you do it? You’re the manager after all,” Alex huffed, giving Henry a look. 

Henry sighed and sat down next to Alex. “If you want to be a manager, this is what you need to gain experience in. The tedious window dressing, the complaints from your annoying staff, stocktake… all of the tiny things that don’t seem very important. At least, to you anyway. Here.” 

He leaned over Alex and moved the foot mannequin slightly to the left, standing up and looking at it. “You know what? I actually think this window would look better like this,” He said, dropping a different reference photo in front of Alex. “Why don’t you get started on flipping it around while I work on the stocktake?”

“You know, I’m actually really good at stocktake. You could work on the window while I-”

“No, Alex. I said no. You need to learn to listen if this is ever going to work,” Henry interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Bea will be in soon. She’s going to be finishing the stocktake tonight while you and I go to Percy’s photoshoot.”

“Oh. Is that still happening?”

“Yes. I texted you a calendar reminder this morning, do you even look at any apps in your phone besides the camera?”

Alex shrugged and picked up his phone, opening up the message app and laughing a little. “Ah, here it is. It was right next to all of my other unread messages from you.”

Henry stared at Alex, Alex held his eye contact and stared right back. He was sure that he could see a small smirk creeping up on Henry’s lips, but he shrugged the thought off as he blinked. 

“Do as you’re asked, Claremont-Diaz. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we get to that photoshoot, the sooner I can go home.”

Alex let out a loud huff as he turned back to the window. Their display was usually quite simple, until Henry got a hold of it. Most of the reference images were just the leg mannequins placed kind of fancily in the front window. Alex hated to admit it, but Henry’s windows always seemed to look… better.

He took a moment to breathe before shoving his Airpods in and doing his best to follow Henry’s instruction. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t want to piss Henry off anymore. In fact, he was trying his hardest to do just the opposite. 

He had found Henry’s favourite candy from Bea and had given a packet to Henry as a gift. Henry had turned his nose up at the gesture and stated he was off sweets, but later Bea told him Henry was snacking on the sweets when he got home. 

So maybe candy had sort of worked, but he wasn't giving up yet. His next great attempt was to invite Henry to lunch, but he said no. He never really listened to Henry’s commands, so he brought Henry lunch anyway. Henry actually seemed grateful for it, considering he had been complaining all morning about having been too busy to grab lunch earlier.

Alex’s thoughts were interrupted as there was a knock on the door. He looked up and glared. The centre was clearly closed, and they obviously were too. He glanced over at Henry, who had a smile on his face as he made quick strides to get to the door. 

“Stupid customers, am I right?” Alex said, pulling out his Airpods.

Henry just looked down at him and shook his head. “This uh, this isn’t a customer. I have a quick meeting outside. You’re welcome to take a break and go get some coffee, if you would like.”

Alex frowned and stood up, walking over to the counter and pulling himself up on top of it. He half glanced down at his phone, but his curiosity was taken over by Henry’s meeting.

The man standing outside with Henry was wearing an impeccably tailored suit, Alex was kind of impressed. He had to admit, he was quite handsome as well, for someone who was probably in his thirties or later. Alex tried to get a closer look at the folder he had tucked under his arm. It had an incredibly familiar logo on it, but he couldn’t quite make it out. Not without his glasses.

Why did Henry need to have a meeting with some stranger anyway?

Alex felt his ears grow kind of hot as he stared at the two of them. He wasn’t even worried about Henry seeing, he wanted him to. He wanted Henry to know how annoying it was that he was being left out of this, whatever it was. 

He wanted Henry to come back in and tell him how good his sock window looked, to have his attention be just on Alex. They could talk about whatever that dumb meeting was, maybe get a coffee…

That was probably never going to happen. There was no repairing the stupid things Alex had done to ruin their relationship. Fucking idiot.

Alex crossed his arm as he saw Henry shake hands with the man before turning on his heel and coming back into the store. “What the hell was that about?”

Henry frowned and held the folder against his chest. “It’s private, none of your concern Alex. Also, I was thinking about the window. I think I actually liked it better the first time around. Would you mind fixing that up for me?”

“Are you going to tell me what that meeting was about?” nl

“I’m not, it’s really none of your concern. Are you going to fix the window?”

He hesitated. “Are you going to change your mind again?”

Henry smirked. “That depends on how much you annoy me this time around,” He stated before picking up the store tablet and continuing with the stocktake. Alex’s eyes widened. So Henry was just fucking with him, maybe the guy did have a sense of humour.

As Alex settled back down in the window, he found that the rest of the hour seemed to go by relatively fast, but Alex couldn’t stop thinking about Henry’s meeting. It just really didn’t make sense why Henry would go meeting some random guy outside work, it was so unlike him. 

Alex looked up as Bea walked in, smiling down at him. Alex noticed her arm was covered in a plastic wrap, that was random. “Alexander! Good evening. You two haven’t killed each other yet, that’s a pleasant surprise!”

“Bea! My favourite Fox!” He said excitedly, jumping up and shoving his Airpods in his pocket. “I missed you so much! I can’t believe you’ve only got a few shifts left, this place is going to suck without you.”

Bea laughed and handed Alex a blue lollipop. “I’m sure Henry hasn’t been giving you sugar, he’s not so good at the whole giving thing. How are we doing?”

Henry stuck his head out from the stockroom. “Hey! How did the tattoo go?” 

“Tattoo? Is that what this is?” Alex asked, grabbing Bea’s arm and looking it over. “What is it?”

“Lavender! It’s such a gorgeous flower, it was a gift to myself for my new job,” She said, smiling down at it. “It’s kind of bloody and inky right now, I still need to go home and wash it, but I love it!”

“I hate the idea of tattoos. So painful,” Henry commented as he put the tablet down on the counter. “Are you ready to get going Alex? The window looks great.”

“Wasn’t it supposed to be facing the other way?” Bea asked, looking over at the window.

Alex laughed. “Good one, Bea. Henry already got me with that, twice actually.”

Henry frowned as he picked up the picture, looking over at it and his cheeks turning a tinge pink. “Uh, she’s right, Alex. I may have messed up slightly…”

Alex froze. “You’re fucking kidding me. Bea, tell me he’s joking. Henry, I am going to end you.”

Bea smiled as she looked between the two of them. “Ah, you’re both hilarious. No, he’s not joking. I’ll fix it, you both run off and go play nice! Hugs!” She said, pulling them both into a group hug.

Henry tensed for a moment before wrapping an arm around Alex. Alex glanced over at him, relaxing as he felt Henry’s hand pressed against his shoulder blade. “We could have been a great team if we all got along a little earlier,” Alex commented quietly, being the first to pull away from the hug.

Henry rolled his eyes and went over to grab his bag while Bea just laughed quietly. “You are right, Alexander. It’s too bad that you were both too stubborn to be friends. Your sister tells me it’s because Henry is a pisces.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “That does sound like June.”

“Alex, can we get going?” Henry interrupted, “As much as I love both of you making fun of my star sign, I want to get home to my dog.”

Bea laughed. “Go with old man Henry before he gets too grumpy. Have a good night boys!”

“You too!”

Henry looked to Alex as they stepped out of the store, his cheeks still rather pink. They nearly matched his hair, and Alex was kind of loving it. “I’m actually not that old. I get tired sometimes, full time work does that to a person.”

Alex shrugged. “I get it. We all get tired, but going home to your dog? Don’t you have like, some kinky girlfriend or something?”

“No, but if I did, it would be a boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They fell into silence as they headed up to the Flamingo Lounge. The night ahead was long, but the only thing on Alex’s mind was… boyfriend. Henry wanted a boyfriend. The thought made his stomach feel kind of weird, the same way he felt when Henry’s hand brushed against his shoulder.

It was nothing, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a mysterious meeting for henry, hm?? what on earth could that be about?
> 
> it's all rather scandalous, really. 
> 
> i'm thinking this fic will probably have about 5 or 6 chapters more + an epilogue! this is the longest piece of writing i've written in a while and while i'm super sad to let it go, i'm also super excited to finish it!
> 
> let me know ur thoughts in the comments if u enjoyed it, and leave a kudos if you want as well :)
> 
> much love from me! i am hisroyalhenry on twitter if you want to find me on other socials :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!
> 
> double update, who am i?
> 
> before you start this chapter, i would just like to state that it does include mentions of:
> 
> \- ALCOHOL  
> \- DRUGS
> 
> if you don't feel comfortable with reading such things, feel free to skip this bad boi!! 
> 
> otherwise, please enjoy!

Alex never thought he would end up in Henry’s car, but frankly, that wasn’t the weirdest thing about his day.

His morning had started with a fight with June. They were known to bicker relentlessly, but those were usually more of a fun banter between siblings. This was something next level for the both of them. 

They’d screamed, Alex threw a pillow. June cried. Then Alex went to work.

He spent most of the morning out the back, hiding from Henry and the majority of customers. Henry didn’t want to push it, so he left him be. It was weird to see him be less bossy, almost… kind? Alex hadn’t really seen this side of Henry before.

When they finished closing up, Henry had let Alex continue on the task of cleaning as he counted the tills. After some silence, Henry cleared his throat.

“I know we don’t really have this kind of relationship, but as your manager, it’s my responsibility to make sure my staff are alright. You seem a bit off today… would you like to talk about it?” He asked as he flipped through the notes in the register.

Alex looked up from where he was mopping. He shrugged slightly before looking straight down at the floor. “I had a bad morning, that’s all. It’s not really that important,” Alex mumbled, running a hand through his hair. 

“Oh. Well, was it something from home? Did you and Nora have a fight perhaps? I do have a few years on you, I might be able to offer you some kind of solution.”

“No offence Henry, but do you even have friends? Pez doesn’t count.”

Henry let out a sigh before he finished counting the till, closing it for the night. “I do, actually. Or… well, I did. I had more friends once upon a time, but then we moved to the States and no one really wanted to stay in contact. I assure you, I did have friends once upon a time.”

Alex paused before he leaned the mop against the wall, sitting down on one of their stools. “Do you and Bea ever fight?” He asked quietly.

Henry made his way over to the seat, sitting down next to Alex. “We bicker, sometimes. But we always make up. Did something happen with June?”

“She went out with her ex. She hadn’t spoken to him in months, and things ended in a stupid messy way. She cried so much, Like, so much. But she went out with him last night, and I told her she shouldn’t have done something so stupid. She told me that she’s older and she can make her own decisions, but I told her she was wrong. And then-” He cut himself off, resting his face between both of his hands. “We just kept yelling. It didn’t stop like our normal fights, it escalated. So she’s not talking to me, and I just went to work because I didn’t know how to keep talking to her.”

He let out a loud sigh and looked over to Henry. “Does that make me a bad guy? I know she can make her own decisions, god, I’m just a baby compared to her. But I still feel the need to protect her, even though I know she would be okay no matter what.”

“We can’t help wanting to protect our sisters. I think quite frankly that it’s a guy thing, it’s incredibly sexist. However, it’s programmed like a second nature. I uh… I don’t know if Bea has told you about this, and it’s really not my place either, but she struggled with a cocaine addiction for a while. That’s kind of part of the whole reason we left England, actually. Surprisingly, the rehabilitation over here is a lot better.” 

Alex stayed silent as he glanced over at Henry, noticing the way his shoulders were hunched over. It was weird to see Henry be vulnerable, considering that he always stood tall. He was always perfect, but the way he spoke was so ridiculously delicate that Alex thought he may break.

“There were nights where she would come back and she just wasn’t herself, and I never knew how to protect her. I was always scared that there would come a day where she just didn’t come home. It took some time, but after a while I kind of came to the realisation that nothing I was going to do was going to help, and she had to make the decision to get better herself. We can’t bubble wrap them and protect them from everything, even if we wanted to.”

Alex let the silence surround them before he spoke again. “I uh, I didn’t actually know any of that. I’m sorry that you guys went through that, it must have been hard.”

Henry looked back up at Alex and smiled. “It was a new experience for sure, but we both came out the other side having a better understanding of each other. Everything happens for a reason, Alex. Including your fight with June.”

“Oh. I… I guess.”

“So are you going to go home and talk to her about it? I can give you a lift, if you would like,” Henry offered, leaning over and fumbling through his bag for his car keys. 

Alex shifted. “I wasn’t, uh, going to go home? I was actually going to see if I could find a motel or something for the night, or maybe go stay with Nora. I just don’t think I’m ready to go home yet,” he admitted, looking away from Henry. He felt like a coward running from his problems, but he just wasn’t ready to talk to June yet.

Henry went silent before checking the time. “Bea is out with Pez tonight. They’re doing a photoshoot for his next round of advertisements. She got to keep her natural dirty blonde, while I’m stuck with this,” He gestured to his own pink hair. “Bloody annoying, it is. But essentially, I have a free house for the night. You’re more than welcome to stay, if you’d like. It might be nice to have some company instead of couch surfing in a motel.”

Alex hesitated. “Would you even be comfortable with that? I didn’t think you liked me that much.”

“I’d feel a lot more comfortable knowing you actually have somewhere to stay then going home and thinking that you’re staying in some dingey motel.”

“Oh. Only if you’re sure.”

“I am.”

“Well, okay.”

Henry smiled as he stood up, offering his hand to Alex. “Let’s get going then, shall we?” 

Alex glanced down at Henry’s hand and took it, stumbling a bit as he stood up and ending up a little too close to Henry. Their chests were close to being pressed together, and their noses were almost touching as well.

Henry laughed awkwardly as he took a step back. “Are you happy to borrow some of my clothes? I don’t have much, but I’m sure we can find something that would fit you.”

“That sounds easier than making a stop at mine, so sure,” Alex responded, following Henry out of the store and watching as he locked up. Then, he and Henry made their way to the car, falling back into their familiar silence.

When they arrived back at Henry’s house, Alex was kind of impressed at how fancy it seemed. It was a two story place with a cute garden out the front, which Alex assumed was Bea’s touch.

Henry looked over to Alex as he unclasped his seatbelt. “You’re not allergic to dogs, are you? It’s probably a bit late to ask. I can go let him out into the yard if you would like?”

“Him? I always thought your dog was a girl.”

“David? No. No, David is definitely a boy.”

“Your dog’s name is David? What kind of name is David?”

Henry gasped as he opened up the car door. “He’s named after Bowie! Do you know who David Bowie is or are you just too straight?”

Alex scoffed, opening his door and getting out as well. “For your information, I am an incredibly cultured straight…” He paused, shrugging. “Person. I’m just a cultured person.”

“Oh. Alright then,” Henry said, grabbing his house keys and heading towards the door. As he unlocked it, a rather round beagle came bounding out the door and slamming right into Alex’s leg.

Alex lit up. “Hi puppy! Henry gave you such a weird name, but you’re so gorgeous! I love you! Yes I do!” He said excitedly, kneeling down and patting David. 

Henry rolled his eyes as he walked in. “David! Come!” He said, smirking as the dog followed at his heel. “He stays true to his master, even if he did give him a shitty name.”

“Okay, at least my love for David Bowie isn’t my only personality trait,” Alex responded as he stood, closing the door behind him as he looked around at Henry’s place. It was what Alex would classify as organised clutter, and it was kind of nice.

“I have other personality traits!” Henry exclaimed, heading into the kitchen. “Sorry about the mess, Bea has been kind of busy and I haven’t had time to clean this week either. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, no, you’re fine. You saw my mess,” Alex said, following Henry into the kitchen. He watched as Henry put some food into David’s bowl. 

“Your house was immaculate. Mine is… well, it’s certainly lived in,” Henry said, leaning up against the counter. “Do you eat? Wait, no. I’m sorry, my brain kind of switches off after work. Let me rephrase, are you hungry? Do you want a food?”

Alex smiled, it was kind of nice to see Henry be less than perfect. “Food would be great, but I’m not really that fussed. If you don’t want to cook though, I can organise some take out? My treat for you letting me stay over.” He pulled out his phone and went onto a food delivery app, starting to flip through it curiously.

“Cooking really is no… what did you have in mind?” Henry asked, stepping closer and glancing at Alex’s phone. “Oh! I’ve heard good things about that place.” He pointed to a pizza place that showed up in Alex’s recommended restaurants. 

Alex looked back up at Henry and pouted. “If we’re getting food, we’re getting something remotely interesting. You can get pizza literally at any point,” He said, opening up one of the restaurant’s menus. “Can you do spice?”

“No. Bea can, I can’t.” He admitted, shrugging and heading over to his fridge. “Can I get you a drink? A, what do you Americans call it? A soda, perhaps?”

“Do you have any alcohol? Sorry, is that too forward? I really shouldn’t be getting drunk with my manager.”

Henry raised his eyebrow before smirking a little. He opened up one of the cupboard, grabbing out a bottle of gin and placing it down on the kitchen counter. “You drink gin, right? I seem to recall that from the Christmas party.”

“Is that fucking pink gin?” Alex asked, laughing. 

Henry pouted and pulled out two glasses, pouring a shot into both of them before adding in some tonic. “It’s not mine, it belongs to Bea! I swear.”

Alex crossed the room and picked up the glass. “I don’t believe you. A toast! To the weirdest dog name in history, and to getting you drunk off your ass in your own home.”

Henry took his own glass and raised it slightly before knocking it back. “What, you think I can’t keep up with you? I have more experience in my old age.”

“Your white ass? No way. I give you three shots, tops.”

“Okay, you’re on,” Henry responded, laughing.

At just two shots in, Alex found out Henry was more of a light weight than he thought. He was leaning heavily on the countertop, as he began to rant over Hogwarts houses.

“You know, I just think it’s kind of stupid that your whole school life is decided by a fucking inanimate object! Like, they have magic owls, magic sticks, all of that! And yet, they get sorted by some thousand year old hat? It’s kind of boring, don’t you think? They could all just live freely and earn points by like, who has the most sex! Wouldn’t that be something?”

Alex just smirked as he watched him, pouring a glass of vodka for himself. “In a children’s book? It definitely would be. What house are you anyway? You seem like a massive Hufflepuff.”

“See, Bea says the same thing! The stupid hat told me I’m a Ravenclaw, a Ravenclaw! That’s like, the silliest house to be in! Like, if you’re not a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, there’s just no way you can be cool! I was robbed of a good house and I deny the system. I refuse to obey Hogwarts!”

“I don’t think you can just, refuse to obey Hogwarts. I did like, two tests and got different on both of them. See, June says I’m more of a Gryffindor, but i’d rather be in Slytherin. At least that way I’d be closer to fucking Draco Malfoy, the guy is like, on another level.”

“So you have a thing for British blonde guys? What, am I going to have to bleach my hair and complain about daddy issues? Would that do something for you?” Henry teased, letting out a loud laugh.

Alex’s cheeks turned pink and he straightened himself as he heard the doorbell ring. “Dinner! I’ll be back. Don’t let go of the counter, you’re already too far gone.”

Henry huffed. “You can’t tell me what to do,” he mumbled as he took another sip of his drink. Alex rolled his eyes and headed to the door, grabbing the food before coming back into the kitchen. Henry had slid down the counter in the time that Alex was gone and was sitting on the floor, with his back pressed up against one of the cupboards. It was then that Alex realised his shirt buttons had come undone, Alex wanted to scream.

“Here, do you have a table or something?”

“Tables are overrated! Come here! Bring the drinks!” Henry exclaimed, yanking on Alex’s arm to pull him down to the floor. “See how nice the ground is! The tiles are so cool, I love them! We didn’t have them when we moved into this house, but I installed them myself! The grout work is kind of poor, but they’re just so nice.”

“They are nice, are you alright to eat or am I going to have to feed you like a baby?”

“I’m fine, thank you very much. Is that a burrito?” Henry asked excitedly, grabbing onto the burrito that Alex passed him and cradling it against his chest. “This is amazing! I’ve never had… Chip… Che Poot Lay? Chi… “

“Why don’t you quit while you’re ahead?”

Henry pouted back at Alex before unwrapping his burrito and messily shoving it in the direction of his mouth. “This is… so good. So so good. Oh my god, you are a genius!”

Alex laughed. “This isn’t the best burrito ever, I’ve had a lot better. But it’ll solve our hunger,” He said, crossing his legs and sliding over so that he and Henry were side by side, their backs pressed up against the cupboards and their thighs grazing one another.

After they had eaten, Alex attempted to clean up the mess and helped Henry to his feet. “I think that’s enough alcohol for one night, do you want to show me where to sleep? That way you can get to sleep and I won’t have to bother you anymore.”

“Can you help me to the bathroom? I need to wash my face, you can help! It can be our bonding, like Zahra wanted!” Henry said, letting out a small giggle. “Zahra will be so proud!”

“We can’t tell Zahra that we got drunk together. She will kill me.”

“But it was such a fun bonding experience! I think we just learnt so much about each other…”

“Which way is your bathroom?” Alex persisted, wrapping an arm around Henry’s waist.

Henry lit up. “Right! This way!” He said, pulling Alex up the stairs, while still trying his hardest to lean on him. It was a weird limbo of trying not to let Henry run himself into the ground, but also not tripping over his own feet.

As they stepped into the bathroom, Alex laughed a little as he saw the pink stained towels. “Okay, wash your face and then let’s get to bed.”

“Wash my face? It’s not that simple,” Henry huffed, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a bunch of bottles and jars. Alex had no idea what half of them were, but he was shocked Henry owned that many. It made sense why his skin always looked so soft now, Alex wondered if it would be inappropriate to reach out and touch it?

Alex watched as Henry leaned down and started splashing his face with water, leaning against the door. Henry went through about five or six processes before turning to Alex. “Well? Don’t you wash your skin as well?”

“Oh. I uh, I guess,” Alex said, stepping forward. He pushed aside all of Henry’s products and took two pumps out of the hand soap container, scrubbing his face with it. Behind him, he heard Henry’s shocked gasp.

“Alex! No!” He exclaimed, watching in horror as Alex washed the soap off his face. “That’s not… you can’t be serious! Your skin isn’t going to handle that!” He exclaimed, reaching over and grabbing a small dollop of cream from one of his many containers. He didn’t even hesitate before he pushed Alex up against the wall, gently rubbing the cream into his cheeks.

Alex didn’t even know how to respond. He just stared back at Henry in shock, not sure how to let the words of confusion leave his mouth.

When Henry was done, he stepped back and smiled. He was still swaying quite a lot, so Alex, grabbed his waist again to steady him. “Are you done playing beauty guru?”  
“I am. We need to work on your skincare routine,” Henry responded, tugging on Alex’s arm again as they moved forward towards Henry’s room.

His room was quite small, and cosy as well. David was nestled on a dog bed near Henry’s desk, next to that was a giant bookshelf. Alex was kind of shocked at all of the titles, he was going to have to ask Henry to elaborate the next morning. If he remembered, that was. 

Alex let go of Henry as the taller of the two sat himself down on the edge of the bed. He was already beginning to wriggle his pants off. 

“So, where am I sleeping?” Alex asked, causing Henry to look up. His tongue was sticking out as he tried to concentrate on getting out of his pants. 

“Oh. Here’s the thing, I don’t actually have a spare room. The couch isn’t very comfy at all, in fact Bea and I hate it so much that we are considering burning it. Here’s what I’m thinking, you can sleep right here,” Henry stated. 

Alex’s eyes widened. “You want me to sleep in the same bed as you?”

“Oh come on, Alex. We’re grown, we’re not little boys! We can share a bed with no sexual tension. You’re straight! It’s fine!”

“I… and you’re sure?”

“Oh come on Alex! A little bit of cuddling never hurt anyone!” Henry exclaimed, pulling him into bed.

Alex shifted a little, sitting up again and letting out a grunt as Henry pulled him back down. “Okay, okay. I’m staying. Goodnight, Henry.”

“Goodnight, Claremot-Diaz.”


	9. Chapter 9

“You slept with your fucking manager?”

Alex rubbed his face as he sat in the food court across from Nora, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. “Okay, you’re making it sound like we had sex when that’s definitely not something that we did! It was completely platonic. Just two drunk buddies sleeping in the same bed.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “So Henry offered for you to stay over, and you just took him up on it? That is so ridiculously out of character for you, Alexander. Tell me, did you see him naked? Was his bare chest enough to drive you wild? Did you fuck on the kitchen counter? Did-”

“No! We didn’t do any of that! If you keep going down this path, I swear I am going to find the worst Karen this stupid mall has ever seen and I am going to bring her into on of your jobs.”

“That is literally like…” Nora paused to take a bite out of her muffin. “Literally the least intimidating threat that you have ever made. Anyway, did you and June make up? She called me crying when you didn’t come home.”

“June and I are complicated right now, just like you and your secret relationship. Tell me, am I ever going to find out who the mysterious bastard is that has to put up with your crap?”

“What? No. You know her, anyway. But seriously, fighting over some dumb date? That’s low for even you. You know June is capable of protecting herself. And by the way, that wasn’t even a date. They were just talking about their feelings for other things.”

“And you’re going to tell me what those things are when?”

“I’m not. That’s not my place, it’s June’s thing. She will tell you when you stop being such an asshole.”

Alex rubbed his face. “Right.”

Nora grabbed his coffee and took a sip, screwing up her face. “This tastes like decaf, you’re growing weak. Tell me, did Henry make you like, a sexy breakfast? Did he wear nothing but an apron while he cooked pancakes or something? You need to fill me in on the details.”

Alex let out a deep sigh. “Are you ever going to let this go?”

“Definitely not. I want all of the saucy details, and I’m not going to stop pestering you until I get them,” She responded, handing him his coffee back. 

“He did make breakfast. However, he was fully clothed and super hungover. He really is such a lightweight, which I kind of expected. He also has like, this super ridiculously complex skincare routine. He does it morning and night and honestly, it was funny to watch.”

“So that’s why his skin is so smooth… I just thought it was a British thing.”

“Me too. Anyway, he made us french toast and it was really good. I didn’t take him as a good cook either, I thought he would live off noodles and like, maybe he sucks out the soul of like, a first born child every once in a while. I feel like he could totally be a vampire. Breakfast was great though, then he just drove me home. He was kind of weird though, he kept looking at his phone and he took like, a lot of phone calls. He looked really stressed.”

“I didn’t think you would notice Henry being stressed.”

“No, I always see it. He makes this stupid face where his mouth pinches in this one spot. I always thought it was his batteries needing to be changed, but it’s stress.”

Nora smirked. “So you’ve been picking him apart?” 

“A little. I don’t know why he would be so stressed though. We’re finally getting along and my mom loves him.” He laughed as his phone started blaring out Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, pulling out his phone and answering. “Speak of the devil. Mom, hi! What do you need?”

“Hey sugar! Listen, I know tomorrow was your only day off but I need a favour from you. Henry’s shift needs to be covered and it would mean a lot to me if you could do it. I’ll give you a key and you’re free to do whatever for the day, but I really need this from you.”

Alex raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah. I can cover Henry. Is he off sick? He seemed fine yesterday when I left his place, I know there’s like a cold going around or something.”

The line went quiet.

“Uh, mom? Are you still there? I know the mall reception is shit but I didn’t think it was this bad.” He laughed nervously, grabbing his coffee with his free hand.

“I really wanted to talk to you about this when you were home, I don’t want you to freak out. Trust me, this isn’t your fault. I know I told you I would kill you if this were to happen, but when Henry and I spoke, this was happening on his terms. He wasn’t mad with you, Alex. He actually was talking you up quite a lot, saying how much you had grown in the past few weeks.”

“Happening on… mom, what is going on? Be straight with me, please.” 

“Henry handed in his resignation. Effective immediately.”

It was Alex’s turn to go silent now. His face paled and squeezed his coffee cup a little too hard, the liquid spilling out onto his lap. Nora frowned and removed the cup from his hand, going off to grab napkins.

“What do you mean he resigned?” Alex snapped, a little too loudly. People were turning to look at him now, watching as the phone call played out.

“Sugar, he got a position at another store. He said he loved working for me, but they were offering a higher pay rate and I couldn’t match it. He promised he would come cover shifts for us if we ever needed him, but he starts at his new position this week. It’s in the same mall, so you might still get to see him! It breaks my heart that we lost both Fox’s in the matter of months, they were incredible employees.”

“Why didn’t you convince him to stay? You always told me how incredible and important he was, why didn’t you make him stay!” Alex half yelled, his eyes watering up. “I actually liked working with someone for once! He was helping me be… I can’t believe he did this!”

Ellen frowned. “Diaz, you don’t need to snap. You can take this up with Henry, it was his decision. I have some interviews to schedule, but I will see you tonight when I get home. Please remember to breathe.”

Alex just shoved his phone in his pocket as he stood up, glancing around at the people staring. “Don’t y’all have something better to do!” He snapped, shoving his hands in his pocket and grabbing his bag.

Nora came back with handfuls of napkins, frowning. “Alex, are you okay? Here, let me help,” She said, trying to dab at the spilt coffee on his jeans. Alex just pushed her away.

“I am going to get wasted, and then I am going to kill that fucking British bastard.” He headed for the exit, just striding as quickly as possible.

Nora frowned as she chased after him. “Alex!” She huffed, frowning as she checked the time. She watched him go before heading back to her shift, just hoping he wouldn’t do anything stupid. 

She knew better. Alex always had a fire under his ass for no good reason, and he was about to let it explode. She just hoped that Henry was going to be able to deal with the burns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so..... that happened.
> 
> cannot believe alex wasted perfectly good coffee what a Bastard
> 
> shit is about to hit the fan yet Again so buckle ur seatbelts folks!! drunk alex makes a return in our next chapter
> 
> as always, i hope y'all enjoyed !!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh writing this made me cry on several occasions.
> 
> alex is Very drunk in this chapter, so just be wary of that! and be ready to be sad because I sure am !!!!
> 
> as always, i am piper. i hope y'all enjoy

June checked her mirrors as she followed Alex’s instructions, pulling into Henry’s driveway. “Alex, as your sister, I don’t think I should be letting you do this” she stated, looking over at him as she pulled the car into park.

Alex’s throat was burning. It took a lot for him to get absolutely smashed, but he was so mad, he broke into his mom’s liquor cabinet and downed half a bottle of bourbon. It was an idiotic decision, but his tunnel vision was making him focus only on how angry he was with Henry. 

“I can… am capable of making my own fucking decisions,” He muttered, glancing down at the carton of eggs he had in his lap. “I will destroy him and then I’ll get an uber. It… I’m fine.”

“You’re literally not making any sense. You know Henry could complain to mom about this and have the whole company ruined, do you really think you’re making the best decision right now? Henry is super down to earth, you know that. Now that you’re on his good side, why don’t you consider staying on it?”

“He didn’t want to stay on my good side.”

June sighed. “No, no. That’s not the truth and you know that. He got a better job and was offered more money, that’s life.”

“If you were going to try to stop me, why did you even drive me? I could have driven myself.”

“With what license Alex? You can’t drive. You really should sit for your test again if you are going to be working more, but that’s not the point. The point is that you can’t charge at your problems. You need to approach them with care for once in your life.”

Alex sighed. “You’re probably right, but I’m still gonna kick that bastard’s ass so hard that he regrets ever stepping foot in America.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” June called after him as she watched Alex staggered over onto Henry’s front lawn. She sighed before reversing out of the driveway and leaving him be. Whatever was going to happen, it had to stay between the two of them.

Alex stared down Henry’s bedroom window. He stumbled a little, dropping the carton of eggs onto the lawn and letting out a grunt as they smashed. “Fuck!” he exclaimed, stumbling and falling face first into the grass. He huffed, beginning to become more and more frustrated with the situation.

“Stupid fucking Fox!” He yelled, struggling to sit up as the outside lights of the house turned on. Bea stepped out and looked around confused before her gaze landed on Alex. She frowned and stepped out onto the lawn.

“Alexander! What are you doing? Do you want to come inside? You look upset,” She said, leaning down to help him up. “Come in and have some tea? I’m sure Henry will be glad to see you. He’s been trying to call you.”

“I blocked his fucking number. Henry can choke on his tea! And his stupid scones, and his fucking perfect hair! I hate him!” Alex slurred, letting Bea wrap her arm around his waist. She had seen Alex upset a few times, especially when things had gone wrong at work, but she had never seen him like this. 

“There’s no need for that kind of language,” she said, sniffing the air. “You stink of alcohol, Alexander. Have you been drinking?”

“Fuck you,” Alex mumbled, pushing Bea away from him. He was swaying quite a bit, the world around him felt like it was spinning, “I just need to tell Henry where to stick it.”

“Alex?” 

Alex grabbed onto Bea again as he began to lose his balance again, narrowing his eyes at the door. There he was, in all of his pink haired glory. He looked so fucking good, and Alex wanted to punch him in the face.

“Well look who finally showed his fucking face! I can’t believe you, you fucking sell out!” 

Henry frowned as he made his way onto the lawn. “Alex, quiet. We have neighbours, you know. Come inside,” He tried, grabbing onto Alex’s arm.

“He’s smashed, H. June told me she was dropping him off, but I didn’t think he was like this,” Bea commented, securing her grip around Alex’s waist. “We need to help him.”

Alex grunted, his face bright red. He figured if this was a cartoon, he would probably have steam coming out of his ears. “I’m right here! I can hear what you’re saying. Just let me fucking… ugh!” He yelled, pushing Henry away harshly.

Henry stepped back before looking Alex up and down. “Fucking hell, Alex,” He said, grabbing his arm again. “Come inside. It’s freezing and you’re making a scene.”

“I’m trying to make a scene! Everyone needs to know how fucking awful you are! Give me the number of the stupid suit man! I’ll tell him, I’ll tell everyone! I’ll tell them how fucking… fuck…” He took a step forward before falling straight into Henry’s chest, the world around him going dark.

Bea’s eyes widened. “Fuck. How much do you think he’s had?”

“Enough to make him into even more of an idiot than usual,” Henry mumbled, lowering Alex to the ground and making sure he was on his side. “How do we do this?”

“I’ll take his legs, you take his arms?” Bea suggested, “Then, we throw him over the fence. He becomes someone else’s problem.” 

“This isn’t time for jokes, Beatrice,” Henry said, frowning and looking Alex over again. “I didn’t mean to make him… this is all my fault. I fucked up further by trying to make things right, I’m a screw up.”

“We all screw up sometimes, you know that. Come on, let’s get him inside and try and wake him up. We’re all going to catch a chill if we wait out here any longer,” Bea said, bending down slightly as she secured her grip on Alex’s legs.

Henry ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he grabbed Alex’s arms, helping Bea move him inside. They laid him down on the couch and Bea ran into the kitchen, grabbing a cold compress to place on his forehead. She shrugged as Henry gave her a look.

“He looks hot, we need to keep an eye on him. You take the first watch while I go organise dinner,” She said, leaving Henry with Alex. 

Henry positioned himself in the spare space near Alex’s head, picking up the book he had abandoned on the arm of the couch. He didn’t even realise, but his spare hand had ended up in Alex’s hair. It was weirdly soothing to run his hands through the sleeping boy’s dark curls, Henry didn’t know why. 

It was a good half an hour before he felt Alex shift beneath him. He was quick to move his hand out of Alex’s hair, placing his book back onto the coffee table. He grabbed the glass of water that Bea had left for Alex, waiting for him to wake up more.

Alex’s eyes fluttered open and he let out a loud groan. He took a moment to take in his surroundings, trying to figure out what he had missed. He frowned as he felt a pair of legs next to him, reaching over and kind of patting them down. He lifted his chin slightly and felt all his anger come rushing back as he saw Henry looking down at him anxiously. 

“You fuck!” He yelled, sitting up a bit too quickly. He grabbed onto Henry’s shoulder for support as he felt the world begin to spin again. His head was pounding and he didn’t know what direction was which. His ears were ringing as he registered how loud his voice was.

Henry frowned, gently lifting Alex’s head slightly and forcing him to have some water. “I don’t know how much you drank, but you are a mess,” he stated, frowning down at him. He put the glass back down onto the coffee table. “I don’t trust you to hold this.”

“I don’t trust you at all, you fuckwit! You fucking coward. You left! You left for no-” His hand flew to his head as he closed his eyes, letting out a soft whimper. “Fuck. Why is everything so loud?”

“How much did you have?” Henry asked. His voice was soft and gentle, it made Alex even more angry.

“Why are you being so fucking calm? You left me. You left the store that you said you cared about for, for what? You’re a sell out, Henry. You fucking left and you fucking sold out for some, some what? Where the fuck are you even working now? A donkey store? Because you sir, are such a fucking-”

“Arse. I understand the reference, Alex. Are you even going to let me explain myself?”

“No. I’m not finished being mad yet. I have a whole list of the things you fucking did, I hope you’re not doing anything tonight, because we’re going to be here for a while.”

“I’m not. I’m open to whatever list you’ve made, Alex. I’m listening.”

Alex opened his eyes and glared at Henry. “No, no you need to be mad too! You need to be the stupid dick that sent me messages telling me I was an an unorganised slob when I stayed on break for longer than I was supposed to. Where is that guy? I hate him. I hate you, Henry Fox.”

Henry sighed and got up, grabbing his book. 

Alex frowned. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” 

“I’m going to the kitchen. You interrupted our dinner, Alex. Please try and think about someone other than yourself when you have your next drunk breakdown.”

Alex frowned and tried to get up, falling straight back into the couch. Maybe the bourbon was a mistake. “So you’re just leaving again? Is that all you know how to do, run away when things get too hard? Was I too hard for you, Henry? Was I a challenge that you just couldn’t face? Was I some puzzle that the great Henry Fox couldn’t solve? Am I too good for you? Am I-”

Henry slammed his book back down on the coffee table, staring Alex down. He looked… Alex couldn’t even place it. He didn’t know if it was the alcohol messing with him, but he had never seen Henry like this.

“You want to know what my problem with you is, Alex? You’re always so fucking sure of yourself. From the second I walked in on my first shift, you decided to hate me. You made the decision that you wanted what I had worked my arse off to achieve, and it didn’t matter how many times I tried to play nice. It didn’t matter that I was your superior, or that it was a goddamn work environment, you decided right then and there that without even knowing me, you were going to hate me. And you are such a stubborn bastard that it took almost a year to change that opinion of me.”

Henry’s stare was still burning into Alex’s skull. “I stayed back to fix your mistakes, I made sure that no faults of yours ever got back to your mother, because I know how much that stupid sock job means to you. I know that you panic every single time that you make a mistake because you live in fear that you are going to lose your position. Your mother filled me in on you before I even started. He’s trouble, she told me. He’s scared everyone before you away, and I understand if you don’t want to stay. But you know what? I stayed, Alex. I stayed and I did every single thing to hype you up, even if it meant that I had to take the fall for the messes that you created.”

Alex stared back at him in shock, opening his mouth and closing it like a goldfish. Henry reached across the table and shoved the water glass into Alex’s open palm, grabbing his book again. “There comes a point where you need to face your problems, Alex. You’re an adult, act like one.” 

Henry turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen door. Alex stared down at the water and took a sip of the water, before he found his strength and stood up. He was holding onto the couch for dear life, but Henry didn’t need to know that.

“I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, I can keep my job without you.”

Henry froze in the doorway. His shoulders were tense and he let out a loud sigh before he turned back to Alex. “Your mother wanted to fire you three months ago. Remember when you told a customer to, what words did you use? Ah, I remember now. If you don’t like my attitude, you should take the stick out of your ass and go shop somewhere else. Ellen wanted to let you go, and do you want to know who made the case for you to stay? Do you want to know who stayed up until early morning writing emails on your behalf? Do you want to know who got screamed at by customers because of bad experiences they had with you? It wasn’t Bea, it certainly wasn’t Zahra. So who in the bloody hell do you think put all of that time into making sure you stayed in a job where you felt safe? Can you guess, Alex? Can you think of a single person that would waste all of their time trying to fix everything for you?”

Alex felt his heart fall out of his chest. For the first time that night, his silence was voluntary.

“I let you push me around for eleven months, Alex. I taught you everything I thought would help you get where you wanted to go, and you ignored every single lesson I gave you in search of a way to piss me off. I wanted to help you grow into the great bloke I know that you are going to become, but you pressed on. You made me… you made me feel for you. I went home every night and I thought about you, and how all I wanted was for you to succeed. But you just… you kept letting me down. Sometimes I had hope that you would finally pull the plug and start acting like a professional but that day never came,” He stopped again, leaning against the doorway. Alex noticed he was tearing up.

“You were so fucking close. You were so fucking close! I thought in these last few weeks that I was making progress, and you just let me down again. All you do is let me down, Alex. When are you ever going to start giving back?”

Alex’s bottom lip wobbled. He didn’t even realise he was crying until he felt the tears rolling down his cheeks. It was slow at first, before it all came bursting out. All of the anger, all of the hurt, everything. Before he knew it, his knees were pulled to his chest and he was sobbing loudly. 

“All I ever wanted was to be as good as you.”

Henry was silent. He moved slowly at first before he sat down next to Alex on the couch. “Can I hold you?” He asked.

Alex had never moved faster in his life. He practically dove into Henry’s chest, sobbing as he felt Henry’s arms wrap around him. His headache was getting worse now, and he felt like he was going to be sick with how much he was crying. Henry had one hand rubbing Alex’s back and the other grasping onto his curls, just holding him as tight as possible.

When Henry felt Alex’s body stop shaking, he pulled away slightly. He lifted Alex’s chin, keeping the other firmly wrapped around his waist. “I’m going to take you home now, Alex. You need to rest.”

“I can’t… I don’t want to… mom…”

“You have to go home, Alex. You can’t stay here tonight. You’re still drunk.”

“Please.” Alex’s voice cracked, but he didn’t even care to hide it anymore. Henry was seeing him at his absolute worst, and now he knew the coward that Alex was hiding inside.

“You’re going home, Alex. That’s final,” He said, gently moving Alex out of his lap and back onto the couch. “I’m going to get you some food to take home with you, it’ll be good to have something to eat. Have some more water and we’ll get going.”

Alex noticed Henry wiping his own tears as he stood and went into the kitchen, he hadn’t even realised they were both crying. God, they were a mess. 

Henry came back a moment later with Bea trailing after him. She leaned down and brushed Alex’s hair out of his eyes, giving his forehead a gentle kiss. “I’ll see you soon, okay? Don’t be a stranger. You have my number if you need anything.”

Alex leaned into Bea and gave her a loose hug, frowning as she slipped out and turned to Henry. “Drive safe,” She said, hugging him as well. 

Henry nodded before looking down to Alex. He had a small tupperware container in his hand, full of some orange sloppy thing. It looked white as hell, but Alex was thankful for the food. He hadn’t even realised that his stomach was rumbling like crazy.

“Come on. You take this, let me carry you to the car,” Henry said, handing Alex the container before gently lifting him up. Alex wrapped his legs around Henry’s torso and rested his chin on Henry’s shoulder. He hated that he felt so small, but he closed his eyes as Henry carried him to the car.

Alex rested his head against the window as Henry drove him home. They were both silent until he finally gained the courage to speak up.

“Why did you do it all? If you hate me as much as you say you do, why did you keep pushing through all of my bullshit?”

Henry was silent. Alex didn’t have to look at him to know he was probably making that stupid pinched mouth face.

“I care about you, Alex. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone I have ever worked with. Even Bea, but I don’t think that she really counts, does she? There was something about you that just made me want to protect you.”

“So I was the asshole.”

“You could say that.”

They fell silent again before Alex spoke once more. “What do you mean by you care about me?”

“I want to see you rise up in the world, to reach all of the goals on your list and smash them.” He heard Henry let out a soft sigh as the car came to a stop. “We’re here.”

Alex opened his eyes and pulled off his seatbelt, holding onto the container of soup in his lap. “Do you want me to go put this in a bowl so you can have your container?”

“You can keep it. I’ll survive without a single container, Alex,” Henry almost whispered. He was looking down at the wheel. He didn’t move his gaze as Alex put his hand on the door handle, before he just let his hand fall again.

“Henry?” He said quietly, turning to face him again. He was going to regret what he was about to do, but he didn’t care.

Henry shifted slightly before he turned to face Alex. “Do you want help getting inside? I can get out if you-”

Alex closed the gap between them. His lips met Henry’s lips in an absolute mess of sloppy, drunk, wet love. This was probably the stupidest fucking decision that Alex had ever made, besides being a dick to Henry in the first place.

Henry was tense. His eyes were wide and his cheeks turned pink. Alex felt him relax after a little before he pulled away, turning his gaze to the floor. “I-fuck. I’m so sorry. I should... I’ll see you around, Henry. Good luck with everything.”

“Alex-”

Alex was quick to get out of the car, shutting the door and staggering up the driveway. He had never felt a kiss so perfect, and he knew he was never going to feel the same way again.

If there was one thing Alex had learnt from this drunk mess, there was no way he was straight.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello my loves!
> 
> apologies on a lack of updates, it's been a while! i hope you have all been staying safe and feeling alright in the time that we have been apart!  
> i was in a bit of a writing slump, i think it came mostly because i have been feeling a bit down and i'm not really ready to let this story go either.
> 
> you're in for a bit of a sad one with this chapter. i promise there is happiness around the corner!! or at least i HOPE SO!! only time will tell. however, i also have a cute kitten adoption fic that once i name, i will post that! there's your happiness for the week.
> 
> much love and positive energies from me!   
> if you enjoyed this update, feel free to leave a kudos and a comment!   
> if you want to yell at me to make me update more frequently, i am hisroyalhenry on twitter!

It was strange for Alex to have a meeting with his own mother of all people.

Usually, when something had to be dealt with through Sock It To Em, Zahra was on it. It didn’t matter how big or how small, it was always Zahra. It didn’t matter if it was Alex whining about Henry’s existence, or a customer being a dick. Ellen was the head of the business, but it didn’t necessarily mean she was always involved.

But now, as Alex was on his way to his mother’s office, he felt anxiety make his stomach swell. He wasn’t exactly sure why this meeting had been called, or what it was about, but he figured it was something serious. His mother hadn’t spoken to him in over three days. 

Of course, maybe that had something to do with the fact that Alex had locked himself in his room since the whole Henry thing. He couldn’t believe that he kissed his manager. Well, ex- manager. All of that time that they hated each other, they could have had something... 

Henry hadn’t spoken to Alex in days either. Alex had seen him in their mall a couple of times, he was hard to miss. Instead of the colourful collared shirt he usually sported at Sock It, he was now dressed in a more professional manner. His skinny jeans were gone too, replaced with some ill fitting slacks. His white dress shirt made the remnants of pink in his hair stand out. 

Alex missed the pink nearly as much as he missed Henry.

The store’s visual designer had stepped into Henry’s role while they searched for another manager. A man by the name of Rafael Luna, who Alex had pretty much grown up with. He was a family friend, and had stepped into the business a few years after its first store popped up.

Alex enjoyed working with him almost as much as he enjoyed working with Bea, but maybe Raf didn’t feel the same. Maybe their relationship was simply just not made for a professional environment.

His stomach lurched as he stopped in front of Ellen’s office door. He took a moment to try and convince himself that whatever was waiting on the other side couldn’t be that bad. She was his mother, after all, there was nothing she could do to hurt him that badly.  
He raised his hand to knock, but Ellen opened the door before his hand could hit the wood. Her brow was furrowed as she looked him up and down, and her lips were pressed into a thin, firm line. “Alexander, hi. Come in,” She said, opening the door a little wider to allow him into her office.

Alex’s shoulders tensed slightly more. He had many names to his mother, and Alexander was only one of them when he was in trouble. “Mom, hi. So this was… is Zahra busy? What’s this about?”

Ellen cleared her throat as she closed the door and sat down behind her desk, letting out a soft sigh. “Just, have a seat Alexander. Please. We need to have a chat about your future within the company.”

His face paled further and sat down on the other side of her desk. He took a moment to scan the room, keeping his breathing even and trying to keep his cool. He adjusted his hands and gripped onto his knees, sitting slightly forward. 

“So, I want you to know that as your mother, I love you very very deeply. You are my son, and I will never leave your side.” She looked at him expectedly, waiting for a response.

Alex simply just nodded. He opened his mouth to respond, but the words were caught at the back of his throat.

Ellen bit her lip. “However, as your employer, I do have to keep everything strictly professional. You knew going into this job that you wouldn’t be able to cut any corners or just… Alexander, I know your temper sometimes gets the best of you, but after I saw this footage… i’m sorry honey.”

Alex raised his eyebrow. “Footage? Mom, I literally have no idea what you are talking about. Go back to my temper, too? I don’t… I can promise you that I’ve actually had a really good few weeks. Henry… Henry being gone has been a lot better for me in the work environment, I promise. We solved our fight and Luna is so great to work with, I’ve learnt so much from him.”

“Alexander.” Ellen interrupted, “Focus, please.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“I’ve known Rafael Luna for a very long time, su-Alex. He is an incredible professional, and even though he was with another company for a while, I know he would never… I don’t even… I seriously can’t believe you did this, Alexander.”

“May I remind you I still don’t know what you’re talking about? Look, I’m happy to step into the manager role whenever you believe that I’m ready. I could go do a course or something, maybe even work in another part of the company for a while? I could work with you! I could be your assistant for a few weeks, you could show me the ropes!”

“Alex-”

“-And maybe after that, we could open a new store! Expand the market a little, move up in the business world. There’s a store for sale near where Pez is opening his new Flamingo Lounge.”

“Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz!” Ellen yelled, giving him a look. “I need you to shut your mouth. You are making this so much harder than it needs to be. Let’s just rip off the bandaid so that we can go home and relax.”

Alex frowned. “Rip off the bandaid?”

Ellen pulled out a small pamphlet from in front of her, flipping open the first page. “I didn’t want to believe this, but I watched the footage back and… Alex, I will stand by you no matter what, but I can’t have you messing with my business and my customers. So I need you to confirm for me now, did you or did you not have a fight with a customer?”

That was when it all came back. The day after Alex stormed Henry’s house in a drunk rage, his hungover ass was not in the mood to deal with a bitch of a customer. He may have said some things that weren’t exactly workplace appropriate, and maybe he also kind of knocked over a display and thrown a pair of socks at her. He didn’t really see how that was a problem, though. If someone was going to be a bitch, they deserved the exact same treatment back.

“I may have.”

Ellen pinched the bridge of her nose, a habit that Alex linked so firmly with Henry. He shifted a bit in the seat and began to put a list together in his mind.

1\. Maybe Henry had covered his ass a little more than he thought.  
2\. He was about to get fired.  
3\. Ice cream or alcohol is a must after this meeting.  
4\. He had do to something.

“You know that-”

“Don’t I get a chance to explain myself? To stand before a jury and apologise? To send them an edible fruit basket or something? Isn’t there-”

“Alex, I need you to please shut up and let me fire you,” Ellen interrupted. Alex looked back at her and his bottom lip began to wobble. She was looking at him like some kind of… like a kid. He was just a kid and he had no idea what he was doing.

Henry did. Henry always led the way for Alex… letting him leave was the worst decision Alex had ever made.

Ellen took a deep breath. “As of this afternoon, you have been terminated from the Sock It To Em franchise. You need to hand in your shirt and your keys as soon as possible. I have pre-signed your release papers, and I have given you a letter of recommendation for your next job as well.”

Alex’s head fell. He stared down at his feet and sat in the uncomfortable silence, frowning further as he felt his mother’s gentle touch against his cheek. 

Tears. He was crying in front of his own mother. He really did feel more and more like a child as the minutes ticked on, and maybe that’s what he really was. Just a small, broken kid that had been sent into the big world too soon.

“It’s not personal, sugar. I still love you more than anything, but I can’t let you keep working in my store when you pulled a stunt like that, alright? I’ll make something special for dinner tonight. Let me know if you need anything,” She said. Her business voice was turned off and her mom voice was back as she pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Do you want me to get you a ride home?”

“No. I’m… fine. Thanks, mom. You were a great boss,” he choked out as he stood up, heading for the door. “Are we done?”

“Alex…”

“Are we done?”

She sighed. “We’re done. I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

“Love you too,” he muttered as he left the building. He stopped on the sidewalk and moved out of the way, opening up his phone. His hand hovered over Henry’s contact before he sighed and opened up Nora’s instead, pressing his phone to his ear. 

She answered almost instantly. “Hey asshole, I thought you were dead. What’s happening?”

“Could you pick me up? I need a distraction.”

“From what? Your throbbing erection for Henry Fox?”

Alex cleared his throat. “I got fired, Nora.”

There was silence on the other side of the line before she spoke again. “I… I’m so sorry Alex. You’re at your mom’s office, yeah? I’ll be there soon. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

“I won’t.”

“Do you need anything? I can stop on the way there.”

Alex paused before he opened his mouth again. “Am I a bad person, Nora?”

“Sometimes.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. You need to start listening to people that aren’t yourself, Alex. It’s time you get your head out of your own ass.”

There was silence on Alex’s end of the line, so Nora continued. “I’ll be there in five. Love you, asshole.”

“Love you too.”


End file.
